Stronger
by iJutsu
Summary: Tenten has been missing for over 4 years and Neji and Lee has been searching since the day of her disappearance. Then one day, when she returns to Konoha, she hates them both and vows to destroy them. NejiTen in later chapters.
1. Chapter 1

Hello! Here's my second NejiTen fan fiction. I believe it'll be a bit longer than my first (A Week With the Prodigy). And this is adventurous and bit of action, because I need to learn how to write a new genre. But there's romance, as always. Haha, anyways, here it is.

**Stronger  
**by iJutsu

**Chapter One**

"I'm sorry, young ones," responded Rock Lee, "But your sensei, Tenten, is not here today."

The young ninjas looked up at Lee. He's gotten taller since his genin years, and his hair covered part of his eyebrows, making people look at him seeing that he actually had small eyebrows. He's gotten stronger, and oddly, still willing to make Sakura's his. However, his childish acts towards Sakura was gone; no longer has he blew kisses, wink or other gestures he's done before. But, Lee still wore the green, for he still admired Gai. Though, he now speaks more like how everyone else does, for a certain incident with Sakura. Lee's now 19.

A young kunoichi up to Lee and pouted, "She wasn't even here yesterday, Lee-sensei! You haven't found her yet?"

Lee sadly shook his head, and sighed. "I'm afraid not, Kimiko ."

Tenten has been missing from Konoha for over 4 years. Team Gai, along with other ninja groups, searched around for any sign of the weapon mistress, yet, no signs. Some were worried about her disappearance, and some were annoyed, finding the fact that she ran away with no reason, as they believed, and out of the blue. Kimiko sighed.

"I hope you find her soon, Lee-sensei!" she responded now with a smile, "She seems really cool!"

The group heard a member scoff. Lee and the other two students looked towards the other ninja who did so and Lee raised a brow. The ninja just glared towards the floor, and crossed his arms.

"I don't understand why she was chosen to be our sensei," he said hatefully, biting his lip, "I don't even understand why she was chosen this occupation, anyway! Shouldn't a sensei be dedicated to teach those who need help, or show up when necessary?" The young boy then raised his head swiftly and glared at Lee, "Not one that was missing for years?!"

"Kai!" Kimiko said, staring at him in nuisance, "Don't talk that way! Ryo, can you tell him to stop?!"

"Let him be, Kimiko," said another ninja, by the name of Ryo said, "He doesn't know any better."

"It's true," Kai muttered after rolling his eyes towards Ryo. He then looked away from them. Kimiko looked over at Lee to apologize for Kai's actions, only to see that Lee was looking blankly at Kai, with a not a frown, nor smile upon his lips. Lee then blinked slowly and sighed, and walked towards Kai in a calm matter. Kai seemed to hear his footsteps, for he looked up when Lee was in front of him. Being so much taller than the student, he bent down to his height and stared at him in the eye. Kai seemed to be a bit nervous, for once eye-contact was created, he eyed to his left. Lee again sighed and pated his head.

"I can't blame you for thinking that way," Lee said, with disappointment of failing them in his voice. He then stood up straight and turned around. "I have to attend a meeting. Kimiko, Ryo, Kai, please study the basics that I was able to teach you yesterday."

Kimiko and Ryo nodded and the walked towards the training area, with Kai following behind them, head down. Lee began to walk this direction towards a certain place, seeming like he knew exactly where he was going. As he walked, he rubbed the back of his head sheepishly and grinned softly.

"I noticed you come while I was speaking to Kai," Lee said towards the person, who was leaning against the tree, "Sure did make me think more about the situation. Didn't it, Neji?"

Lee heard a small quiet groan coming from him. He person stopped leaning against the tree and stood straight, walking towards Lee. He then stood before him, with the wind blowing his long dark hair delicately, causing few strands of loose hair covering his face. Neji, too, has gotten taller, perhaps a bit taller than Lee was, and obviously, has became stronger than ever. His hair remained the long, and it was still bonded with tape. Neji's white eyes never seemed to fail him, and his movements were faster than before. However, after all these years, he was still amazed by Lee's powers and speed. Neji's personality, too, has changed. No longer has he talked about fate, and how people can't change. He thanks Naruto for making him change to the better. However, he kept criticism towards other to himself.

Team Gai has were no longer a fighting team. They graduated and are now individual ninjas; senseis. But despite the fact that they are no longer together as 'Team Gai', after Chunin exams, they promised to never let go of each other. In they're hearts, they were still a team. That is, at this moment, to both Lee and Neji.

Neji then let out a deep breath before looking at Lee once again.

"It's been almost 5 years," Neji said quietly, making Lee frown a bit and nod.

"And still nothing," Neji added pitifully.

"It's not like it's our fault, Neji," said Lee, crossing his arms, looking up at the sky, "The rumors about her running way just suddenly is something I'm starting to believe."

Neji raised an eyebrow. Lee noticed and looked down from the sky and back at him.

"Well," Lee started, moving his hair a bit from his eyes, "Remember what Gai-sensei said before? I was pretty disappointed of him just telling us this not to long ago. He said that Tenten was smiling and being joyful as usual towards him and others the day before her disappearance."

Neji nodded, seeing where Lee was heading. Lee continued. "So it's a possibility that she did run away for no reason. If she was happy the whole week, and runs away then next, it's possible."

"How do you she was happy?" Neji asked simply, causing Lee to stare at him confusingly. Neji looked at him, "Honestly, you and I don't know much about Tenten."

"You say that, how?" Lee asked.

"Do you know anything about Tenten's life outside of training and missions?" asked Neji.

Lee was quiet for a moment, surprised that he haven't thought about it. Neji was the genius, after all. "I guess we don't know. Maybe something tragic happened, causing her to do what she did," Lee replied, again moving his hair. He then glared at Neji, "Why didn't you tell me this before?"

Neji ignored his question then shifted his arms. "We're looking again today." he ordered.

"We can't today, Neji. We cannot enter the forest, for today the genins are missioning all over. If one sees us, one can't help but follow. It's always like that."

Neji just stayed quiet and gave in. Having another ninja gone was something they can't handle. Lee then again spoke.

"Besides, if we were to look again today, where would we look?" he asked, "We looked in many lands, many villages. It's even a possibility that she's not even standing in this land today, meaning, she's in a whole new world. It's been years. Knowing absolutely nothing about where she could possibly be, it pitiful. Things are probably more worse now and we don't know it.."

"More worse?" Neji repeated in a state of question slowly. Lee gave a deep breath.

"She could be dead."

Neji's eyes widen a little as he stared at Lee's eyes, who was showing sadness in his eyes more less than he was. Lee's head then dropped a little as he covered his eyes with his arm in slight frustration. His arm was a bit shaky as he spoke. "Neji, she's been gone for YEARS. There never was a sign of and all we know by far is that she ran away and isn't around. O-our lovely f-flower of youth. Our poor lovely flower of y-youth."

Lee's hand sought the back of his neck, and let the arm he had covered his eyes with fall down to his sides. He raised his head and looked at Neji. No tears were shown on his face, or any signs if he was crying. Seemed like he wasn't, for Neji thought he was for merely a second. Lee placed a hand upon Neji's shoulder comfortingly before sighing and turning around to head back to the village. It was then he knew that his partner no longer wanted to talk about it.

Neji sighed frustratingly and leaned back against the tree again. Even for a genius, he was confused. He closed his eyes and began to think. _"That's true. She could no longer be beyond our reach or be dead for the matter," _Neji thought. _"Either that, or there's some certain area within the land that we haven't searched in or for yet."_ Neji's eyes remained closed as he lifted his foot to lean against the tree as well with his his body. Before he could cross his arms, he felt a something light hit the tree, which was inches away from his arm. He opened his eyes immediately and looked about. He then looked at the ground, seeing that it was just a stick that hit the tree. Neji twitched and picked it up. He looked at it, then, remembering the sound, toward the direction in which it came. Raising a brow, he again looked at the stick.

"If this almost hit me from that direction," he whispered to himself, "Someone obviously must've thrown it..."

Neji looked around once again. Once the stick hit the tree, all he heard was the stick's motion, no footsteps, breathing, or any sound a human could possibly make. "But who?"

Suddenly, Neji heard rustling from behind the tree that he was leaning against before. He quickly turned around, and saw a girl, about the age of 4 or 5 come out from behind the tree, staring at him shyly with a small blush on her face as she fidgeted with her fingers. Neji looked at the girl strangely. Her hair was short and brown, with pig tails that reached to her shoulders. She had dark brown eyes. He blinked. _"She looks familiar," _he thought, still staring at the girl. The girl smiled softly at him and bowed her head and then walked over to him. She stopped in her tracks when she was right in front of him. Again, she bowed, though with her whole body this time.

"I sorry," she said sweetly as she stood back up straight, "I din't mean to hit you."

Neji just nodded as his reply slowly. How can he not realize a little girl standing behind the tree or in front of him when the stick was thrown? Confused a bit, he then spoke. "Who are you?" he asked.

The girl just giggled and skipped to behind the tree once again. Neji flinched as he stared at her do so. Neji expected her to skip around the tree and come back to him, but she didn't. Once she skipped to behind the tree, she didn't return. Still a bit confused, Neji walked to behind the tree and blinked. She was gone.

"What the hell," he muttered, staring at the empty space of where the girl should have been.

"Something wrong?" a voice said behind him, sounding older than the girl before. Neji shivered. Why didn't he notice her behind him? And why was there no sound to indicate movements of the person. Neji quickly turned around and his eye's grew wide.

The girl before him smiled. She was short, up to his shoulder height. She wore a pink Chinese tank and her hair was up in two buns. He didn't believe it. He blinked, but she was still there.

"Tenten?"

That was all he was able to manage out of his voice. 'Tenten' just smiled. He just stared at her oddly. This didn't make any sense. _"This is how Tenten looked when we were still about 13, when we were genins. How could she possibly still look like this?"_ he thought. Before Neji could speak, she placed a finger upon his lips and smiled. She slowly brought her hand back to her and walked around the tree. Neji stared blankly at her, again seeing that she didn't come all the way around the tree to meet up with him once again. He rubbed his eyes. _"I must be hallucinating," _Neji thought, as he removed his hands from his eyes. Although, once he fully opened his white eyes, another girl was before him, but now her height was up to his chin. His eyes again grew wide as he let out a shaky sigh.

Dark brown hair tied up in two buns. She wore a long sleeve white and maroon shirt, along with matching pants. This revealed what she looked like 2 or 3 years later after genin years, when Neji became a jonin. And that was how she looked when they last saw her.

If this was really Tenten, he was still about confused about why she still looks like that. It's been over 4 years since they last saw her.

"Are you still looking for me?" she said, in a voice he never expected her to use. She was still smiling, though anger was flowing through her voice. "Am I really worth searching for?

Someone was toying with him. He just knew it. Neji closed his eyes, and focused his chakra towards his body and mind. After a brief amount of seconds, he sharply opened them.

Byakugan.

He focused it towards the girl. Neji then stared at it questionably. Nothing happened. Nothing. He couldn't see through the girl. As the byakugan began to fade, he walked up to her. Slowly, he brought his hand up to her face, only to find himself, after a second, touching air.

Neji blinked. She was gone. There was no one in front of him, nor evidence that she teleported. Suddenly, a sharp pain got to his head, making him go back to the tree and lean back. It then got to him.

There was nothing with him to begin with.

Whatever those Tentens were, they weren't there. It was all just in his mind. Neji grunted and banged the back of his head against the trunk of the tree frustratingly. All of a sudden, he saw Lee run towards him from a distance. Neji stood up straight and waited for Lee to approach him. Finally, Lee made it to him and once there, he was desperately trying to catch his breath as he pointed a finger towards Neji. Neji stared at him oddly.

"S-something happened," Lee panted, "S-something strange." Lee then looked up at Neji still taking in breaths, "I...I s-saw her! Her! B-but she wasn't...her appearance...it was her...but she wasn't...she was still...three of her! She told us not to...look for her..."

Neji couldn't believe it. Lee must've encountered the same thing.

"That happened to me as well," Neji said.

Lee inhaled and exhaled deeply and looked at Neji straight in the eye seriously. Still looking at him, he angrily smacked himself, leaving his hand upon his forehead.

"Somethings up," Lee grunted, "T-toying with us with someone very dear. D-damn them!"

Lee was now shaking. Neji felt that nothing could comfort him but the real missing teammate. With his hand still upon his forehead, Lee began to speak, "Why would they do this to us NOW? Why not before? Why not the first week of her disappearance? Second week? First month?! Why after 4 long years!?" Lee let out a shaky breath, while his arm shook many times. His shaking seemed to calm down, as he removed his hand slowly from his face.

"Neji, could this be sign? Could this be a sign that..."

He was interrupted by the sound of running footsteps. Both boys looked towards the direction, seeing a short pink-haired kunoichi run towards them. Lee blinked to get a clearer view. It was Sakura. She increased her speed and stopped in front of them. She looked down and began to catch her breath before she decided to speak.

"Sakura! What's wrong?" Lee asked, looking at her.

Sakura raised up her head sharply, with part of her hair covering her face. "Trouble in the village," she said, "There's someone there who already killed 2 guards from blocking the person from entering the village. I...I.."

"Did that person hurt you?" asked Lee, shocked that she could possibly be hurt. Sakura just shook her head as a 'no'.

"I bumped into the person. It...grabbed me and was about to strike me...I escaped though."

"Does anyone else know about this?" asked Neji demandingly.

"N-no. Naruto and the rest are either on a mission or teaching their students in the forest right now. If we call them in, they are probably already far and their students might be in danger. Only me, Master Tsunade, along with other previous senseis, meaning Kakashi-sensei, Gai-sensei, Iruka-sensei and so forth, know."

Sakura then looked at them fearfully. "We need all the help we can get!" she said to both Lee and Neji, "We better go. Whoever it is could be hurting people at this moment...!"

Neji and Lee nodded and ran towards the village as fast as they could. As they the village, they saw various people running away from the direction they were heading. The villain must be that way. They got closer, and dust clouds from the dirt of people running kept blocking their view in front of them. Suddenly, Lee heard someone scream in pain. Someone being Gai. His eyes grew wide as he increased speed.

"This way!" yelled Lee as he ran, with Neji right by his side, and Sakura a bit behind to catch up. People were no longer running by them. A majority, fortunately, made it out from danger. The three made it through the dust and saw a clear vision of the entrance, or exit to them, of the Leaf village. That was then they saw Gai and Kakashi laying upon the floor. They gasped and ran towards them. Lee and Neji ran to Gai and Sakura ran to Kakashi and helped them up. Luckily for them, they were still breathing and no blood was in sight, but they were badly injured.

"Gai-sensei! Are you alright?" yelled Lee, as he and Neji helped him sit up.

"An outsider attacked," muttered Kakashi dryly as he sat up with the support of Sakura, "With a mask covering it's whole face."

"With a ninja band...with no sign...no sign of what village it could be from," said Gai, trying to stand. Sakura gasped.

"Gai-sensei, Kakashi-sensei, I need to bring you to the hospital as quick as possible! If you continue, you'll collapse!"

The teachers couldn't speak, exhaustion conquered their bodies. Sakura quickly supported them, with one on each side and began to walk to the nearest they could find. She then turned her head towards Lee and Neji, "Keep eye!" she yelled to them, "I'll send others to help!"

With that, she disappeared into the dust clouds. Neji looked over at Lee. Lee was shaking in anger once again, with his hands clutched tight into fists, and head down and teeth gritting together. Neji looked around. There was definitely someone with them. He heard footsteps coming from the left of them, then to the right. Neji paced himself as he pulled out a kunai out of his pocket bag and looked in front of him. Lee also seemed to notice, for he did the same.

"Show yourself," demanded Neji sharply, "There's no use in hiding."

Within seconds, there was a dark figure before them in a distance. It was walking closer to them, revealing it's looks. It wore a mask, with no holes to show the face. The person wore a black collared tank, along with a matching knee-length skirt, that showed the sides of it's legs. The legs were covered with protection tape inches down from it's waist. The hair was short and dark, only touching the shoulders. It held two katanas on it's back, along with a pocket bag obviously field with ninja shuriken and kunais. Gai was right; she wore a ninja headband on her neck, but there was nothing craved onto it. Just a blank band.

It finally got close enough, as it stopped feet in front of them. Lee was getting ready to attack and he was staring directly at the mask. However, Lee first pointed at the person, giving it such a glare.

"Reveal yourself!" Lee said simply, though still shaking.

The person didn't respond. Lee glared madly at it, stepping closer. He couldn't take it much longer.

"Reveal yourself, coward!" Lee repeated, as he brought his hand down from pointing. Again, no response. That was the limit for him. "Prepare to fight!" Lee said to Neji as he ran in his incredible speed towards the mysterious person. In an instant, Lee was right in front of the person. He jumped.

"Leaf Gale!"

Lee aimed his kick towards his opponent.

It was blocked.

Lee stared at the person in shock. It was standing in the same position it was when looking at them, with it's hand gripping onto his leg before he was able to kick. Neji was also surprised. _"It blocked the attack in such speed," _thought Neji, staring at the person in awe. He then shook his head. It was his turn to take action. Swiftly, Neji appeared behind the person and aimed a punch.

It was also blocked.

Neji grunted. His arm was caught in the person's grip with it's free hand, for the other was still gripping upon Lee's leg. Before Lee could again attack with his free leg, the person let go of both of them, making them jump back and stare. It began laughing. Laughing with small laughs leaving into a fairly loud one. Lee glared at the person once it stopped laughing.

"Nice to see you again, too."

Both Neji and Lee's face grew soft as they stared at the person in confusion. With only the sounds of the wind and leafs rustling surround the tree, it looked won and brought it's hand up to it's mask, slowly removing it. Lee stared and paced himself for who the person might be. Neji waited. Finally, in a matter of slow seconds, it raised it's head and opened it's eyes. Lee and Neji gasped. That face. Those eyes.

"No," Neji whispered, angrily, "It can't be..."

It was.

Lee gulped.

"Tenten?"

**TBC**

This chapter mainly describes what happened, how they feel, and so forth. And towards the ending, as you found out, Tenten appears. In the next chapter, that's for you to find out. I just need to work on action, and fighting scenes. Don't worry, all NejiTen romance lovers. It'll come soon. xD


	2. Chapter 2

Thank you for the reviews! I didn't believe it would be liked that much. Well, thank you guys again. It's making me continue this story.

**Stronger**

by iJutsu

**Chapter 2**

She just smirked, giving them a look in her eyes that she hasn't used on them ever before. In her eyes shown anger, despair, yet urge for something she wants desperately. She remained where she was, looking at them. They looked back, not able to move due to the shock of suddenly seeing their friend, their teammate, their Tenten after all these years.

Like this.

A shock it was to see her in this matter. She looked different. Her hair were no longer in the buns she usually made for it was too short, she was slimmer, and scars along her arms. Also, to see her in a level for her to attack them, to attack and kill villagers for merely just getting in was unbelievable. Especially, to she how strong she has gotten. Before, she couldn't even catch up to their speed, or block their attacks. And now, being able to just block it like it was nothing, was not normal. She seemed...dangerous.

That didn't get to Lee. She was there. In the flesh before them. In the flesh before them after 4 long years. Even though shocked about how she was acting, he started walking slowly closer to her, ignoring the looks that he sensed from Neji. Still, she stood there calmly, with that small mischievous grin planted on her lips. He was getting closer, and never has Tenten flinched or backed up- almost as if she waiting for him to come. Lee's eyes were unreadable, with mixed feelings within them. Concern was on his face as well as happiness. Happy that she was finally here. That he finally saw her. Her in the flesh. Not an illusion, but her. Finally, he was in front of her, looking at her straight in the eye. Both his arms began shaking again, as they rose slowly. His eyes were shinning wet. At this point, Tenten was starting to suspect something, so she decided to move. Although, before she could move her foot backwards, Lee swiftly wrapped his arms around her back and pulled her close to him.

Her eyes grew wide in shock, for that was a move she totally unexpected. Lee was shaking, as tears of relief ran down his face, hitting the dirt. Tenten was standing still, still shocked of what just happened. Her eyes remained wide as his eyes remained wet and his body shaking. He then held her a bit tighter.

"It's y-you," he stammered, choked by his own tears, "It's you...It's you...you're back...It's you...Tenten, o-our youthful teammate...!"

Her eyes snapped._ Our youthful teammate? _Shaking a bit herself, she growled softly and pushed him off her. Lee was pushed back, a few inches, trying to stand properly, for she almost pushed him off his feet. He looked at her in surprise, his eyes a bit red from tears, and she gave him an angry glare in return.

"Don't touch me," she stated harshly, "Don't you ever touch me."

Neji and Lee stared at her oddly. She sounded so different, so distant- so not her. Neji gave her the same glare and grunted under his breath. _"It's like we don't even know her," _he thought, looking over at Lee. Lee was hurt. Badly. However, it wasn't shown. He couldn't talk. His mouth was opened to speak, yet nothing but shaky breathing came out. This got to Neji. He, better yet, they, missed her dearly and did all that they could to get her back, just to get this from her. A harsh reaction? Something was wrong. Something was wrong with HER. He took action.

"What are you doing?" Neji asked as steady as he could, "We searched endlessly for you..."

"Really now?" she said, simply, with no change in her voice, "And, I may ask you this, have it ever occurred to any of you that I didn't wanted to be found?"

Neji just stared at her confusingly. Tenten chuckled, as she placed her hands on her hips and her head down as she spoke.

"And have you thought about the fact that I ran away? I RAN AWAY. Ran away on my own will, with a reason," she gave a small laugh, "You all are just making this scene as if I was captured unexpectedly or disappeared for no reason whatsoever."

Neji flared towards her. Though, he couldn't help but agree. So there was a reason why she did what she did. But what? Neji shook his head.

"Why are you attacking the people of this village? Your people?" he asked.

"Just like anyone else would, prodigy."

Neji was trying not to flinch as he saw her walking calmly closer to him. He paced himself, but stayed still for her not to expect anything. His eyes didn't escape her presence. Once about a couple of inches in front of him, she smirked.

"For power."

"This isn't like you," yelled Lee suddenly, making only Neji look at him, as Tenten's eyes remained where they were with that smirk still on her face, "You never aimed for power! Never have you fought for the sake of power!" Lee's voice begun to rise, "You wanted to be like Hokage Tsunade, you wanted peace within all ninja lands! You wanted serenity and wished power didn't take over people like it does!"

Lee then scowled, "What good is going to become of this, Tenten?!" His voice then suddenly lowered before he spoke again, "This isn't like you. Isn't like you at all."

Silence again overwhelmed the ninjas. Leaves seemed to flow from the sky and through in between them, and nothing else but the sounds of that and their heartbeats filling the air. Tenten raised her head straight and turned around, to where she could face Lee. She looked over at him, but avoiding eye-contact. That sneer came across her face again.

"People change," she said simply. Too simply as if the situation was nothing.

Lee flinched. He was disappointed.

"Why change into this?" Lee stated, angrily, but trying not to hold it, "Into such a..."

"It's my own decision," she said calmly.

Lee was shaking with anger, fear and sadness in his heart. "F-four long years. To see you become this. We've searched for you, vowed to never rest until you were again here in our sight, and were feared by the thought you might have been dead. Gone forever. And when it came to this day where we f-finally see you again, you're..._this._"

"I never asked to be searched for."

Lee looked up at her in confusion.

"You both were too occupied with finding me, and didn't think about what the term 'run away' meant."

"We didn't want you gone!" Lee yelled, hands into fist, "We-"

"What do you plan to do with that power?" asked Neji seriously, interrupting Lee and hoping to get out a quick, straight out answer. He didn't get that. Instead, she again turned towards Neji and gave him a smile. As she did so, her hand reached towards her back, slowly removing the katana from it's case. When it was half way out, Tenten's smile grew and she gave that smile. That cheerful smile that she gave them many years ago, the smile they wanted. But it wasn't real.

"That's for me to know," she said quietly, but loud enough for Neji to hear, "And for you to find out."

Before Neji could even blink and think about what she just said, she pulled her katana fully out and striked it towards Neji's body. He gasped and jumped back, able to escape the attack just in time, seeing that she hit the ground inches before him. She looked down at it and back at Neji with a smirk. Quickly, she pulled it up again and jumped towards Neji, with the blade straight before her. Just about the same time she did so, he pulled out a kunai and a shuriken and jumped back, throwing it expeditiously at her weapon, causing it to fly out of her hands and into the air. She chuckled and, while still in air, flipped back and caught her weapon. She landed safely on the ground on her feet.

Lee, as fast as he could, ran to the side of Neji. Neji looked over at Lee and gave him nod, indicating that they should fight. Lee blinked, for that wasn't what he wanted to say to Neji. As Neji paced himself, Lee hesitated. Was he to actually hurt her? He did attack her before, but he didn't intend to hit her badly. He was soft. Tenten's arrival was still a shock to him, and to fight someone who he missed so passionately felt so wrong. Neji noticed his hesitation, but didn't say a word. If they didn't stop her now, what outcomes will come of it?

"Tenten," said Lee, "Please. Let's not do this. I don't want to fight you. We don't want to fight you!"

She was moving her katana.

"Please Tenten. I don't want to hurt you!"

Lee was practically begging and all she did was laugh.

She laughed. "Then don't. That'll make it easier for me!"

She placed her katana slowly back into the case. Lee and Neji didn't dare move. Once finished, both her hands reached into her pocket bag, shuffling slowly to find the right weapon to attack them with. Within seconds, she pulled out her hands, having five kunais in each hand that were held between her fingers. Lee got to his position along with Neji, and then removed the weights that were within his leg warmers. _"Why is she suddenly fighting with us?" _thought Lee furiously. But he couldn't complete that thought, for Tenten wasn't before them anymore. Even before they could have a second to think, a swift motion was heard behind them. Their eyes widened as they ran to their opposite sides, escaping the weapons that she threw.

"How did she get there so fast?" whispered Lee in total confusion. Suddenly, Tenten jumped into the air, with again 5 weapons on each hand. At the same time, she threw the right hand weapons towards Neji, and the left towards Lee. It came towards them at such incredible speed, and if they weren't splendid ninjas, they wouldn't have seemed them. Lee quickly dodged it with his incredible speed, and Neji was able to catch her weapons, placing it in his hands the same way Tenten held it. Both boys ran towards her as she was again on the ground. Lee swiftly came across her, aiming a kick towards her head when once behind her. Tenten heard the motion and blocked the kick with her forearm. That didn't stop him this time. With her arm still at blocking stance, he was below her arms, aiming a kick towards her legs. She jumped high, only to get greeted by her own weapons thrown by Neji. She was nearly hit, for a small slice of her clothing was fallen onto the ground.

She was going towards the ground. That was Lee's chance.

"Dynamic entry!"

In a blink of an eye, Rock Lee jumped again and landed a kick on her head, making her spin and fall backwards. He smirked, but soon faded as he saw the figure he just kicked turned into wood.

"A substitute?!" yelled Lee angrily as he landed on the ground.

Suddenly, he felt a tap on his shoulder behind him. His eyes grew wide, already knowing who it was.

"I got you," she smiled, with a kunai up to his neck, with her free hand holding down his other arm. Fear conquered his eyes but then relaxed a bit. Instantly, Lee returned the smirk that she has given him before.

"Think again," Lee grinned, as she was, without delay, hit with a kunai towards her side. Her grip around him loosened, making Lee easily escape. Neji was in a distance, holding only one weapon left, indicating that it was he who attacked her. Tenten looked at her wound and placed her hand upon it. It was inches above her waist. She then pulled her hand out. Blood.

Lee's grin began to disappear into a shocked expression of hitting his former teammate. She was hurt. She was hurt by them. The thought of attacking Tenten never came across their minds. And now here they are, fighting with her.

"Tenten," Lee started off dryly, "Are you ok-"

Tenten grinned that grin and a puff of smoke surrounded her. Lee's eyes widened as the smoke disappeared. It was another substitution! Neji grunted and looked up, seeing Tenten in the sky above him, with a scroll in her hands. Closing her eyes, she focused chakra into the scroll and sharply opened her eyes. Within seconds, many sharp thin blades aimed towards him with such speed.

"Byakugan!"

His eyes flashed and he leaped out of the way of the weapons, hearing them fall upon each other on the ground. Tenten was in mid-air, getting ready to land. Neji didn't hesitate. He swiftly made himself in front of her and flashed his byakugan as fast as he could to not make her turn again into a clone. Tenten gasped, but was too late to escape.

"Gentle fist!"

His eyes saw the chakra points within her body. Giving a smirk when he found the right one, he grabbed her arm, and tapped it. A sharp pain overwhelmed her body, causing her to grunt and try to escape his tight grip. Suddenly, he let go, almost making her fall back. He smirked. He was able to decrease her use of chakra. Tenten held onto her arm, shaking a bit and glared evilly at him. That didn't stop him. He ran towards her. She jumped again, with her arm still gripping onto the arm he touched. With her free hand, she reached for her katana and pulled it out. Tenten pointed her weapon towards Neji, seeing him still after her. She didn't understand the reason for his smirk as he came closer to her. Suddenly, she remembered...

Lee.

Not even having enough time to look at him, she felt a kick under her stomach, sending her more high than she was in the air. She winced. It was Lee. Her katana flew out of her hands, and Neji caught it. Since she was bent over, Lee sent various kicks at her stomach, just like what he has done to Gaara in the Chunin exams, and she was going higher. When he kicked her in the right angle for her body to be up straight, he growled and went down to the ground. Making sure she was still up in the air, he jumped and lifted his fist.

"Leaf thunder fist!"

In air, he spun towards her. Her eyes widened. She grabbed a smoke trap and threw it against the ground, making a huge area of smoke surround her and Lee. That didn't stop him, he was close to her enough. A puff of smoke surrounded them both and began to fade.

Lee jumped down and landed with his head down and knees bended. Before standing up straight, he looked around for Tenten as the smoke disappeared. He gasped.

She blocked his attack.

Neji looked over at her. She was still holding onto her arm that Neji effected, and was panting from trying to escape Lee's punch. He looked over to her stomach, where Lee had kicked. Her arms with closely against it. She was hurt. However, she begun to laugh dryly. Laugh that laugh she did when she removed her mask.

"Pitiful," she whispered, walking slowly towards them as she slowly began removing her second katana. She was finally close enough to be in front of both of them, who were standing side by side, "I'll kill you both!" she suddenly yelled as she raised her katana above her head to attack.

All of a sudden, she couldn't strike down. Somebody's hand was above her own, gripping onto the handle that prevented her from attacking. It was Neji, for Lee was before her. Using his strong hands, he pulled the katana out of her hands and held onto it, along with her other katana that he earlier caught. Tenten speedily turned around, seeing both her katanas in the hands of the Hyuuga. She gave a short chuckled sigh as her eyes flashed. She, in motion that even Lee couldn't see, kicked at Neji's hand that gripped onto her weapon, making one katana escape from his hands and back into her own. She stood in battle stance with a smirk planted on her face as she looked upon Neji. She was asking for battle.

And a battle was something he couldn't refuse.

Tenten attacked first. She striked forward, but not having any kunais with him, he used her katana to block her move. He was fighting with her weapon. She tried to hit him many times, with the blade moving so fast it was invisible as she hit. Neji, being as skilled as he is, he was able to block the attacks as fast as she could hit. It was his turn. He swiftly began to strike her with the katana, although, he wasn't as skilled as she was with that certain weapon, for she was either blocking his attacks with her body or the katana. He then thought of something. Instead of aiming at her, he aimed towards her weapon. As hard as he could with the katana, he hit the blade of her katana, sending it out of her grip and into the sky and onto the floor with a soft clack. She was empty handed.

"Damn you," she muttered.

Suddenly, Neji moved behind her speedily. Before Tenten could turn to attack him, his arms wrapped around her body, with her back touching his chest. Her eyes grew wide and she stopped struggling to get out. Neji snarled, and held her tight enough to not let her arms move. Her body was cold and soft, arms so delicate yet rough due to the scars running down from various areas. She was strangely cold. He shivered then grunted.

"Stop with this, Tenten!" Neji demanded. Curiosity filled his mind and didn't let it stop him, "Why are you doing this? You plan to demolish us all, and have the power for WHAT? You and I both know you're not the one to have the desire of this!"

That got to her. She growled and spreaded her arms as fast and hard as she could, making him release his grip. Lee expected her to attack, but she didn't. Instead she stood in between them, looking at the ground shaking. After a second, she raised up her head and her eyes were red with anger.

"You know nothing about me!" she yelled towards Neji, "You'll never know anything about me! My desires are my desires and neither of you will never understand it!"

She was in rage. In rage due to a simple sentence. She then gripped onto her hair as she shook. "You guys will never take part."

Her grip on her hair loosened. She let her arm fall calmly to the side, as the other wrapped around her stomach for it was in pain from the kicks she encountered earlier.

"I-I take that back," she muttered, with a shaky grin on her lips, "You guys are taking part. I may want power, and honestly, I don't need to attack anyone else. I don't even have to touch anyone here, so don't worry. I won't hurt them."

She paused.

"However, it is you two..."

She paused again for a minute before looking at both of them angrily with a grin.

"Who I have to kill."

Lee and Neji's eyes grew wide. Lee was the most shocked.

"K-kill us?" he said, not with fear but with disbelief, "Wh-what do you..."

Tenten didn't repeat herself. Instead, she slowly turned around towards the gate. Taking a breather, she began walking, walking away from them once again. They stood still, watching her. Tenten noticed their stares and without turning her entire body, she turned her head sideways to eye them. Her eyes were in a glare, with fury in her eyes.

"I despise you both."

With that, she turned her head back forward and walked out of the Leaf village, leaving both boys dumbfounded as they watched her figure get smaller and smaller. Lee was breathing shakily, as he knees happened to give up on him, for he fell to his knees and his hands were on clutching onto the dirt below them. Harsh tears traveled down his face slowly. Neji frowned.

It was like losing her all over again.

**TBC**

It was a short chapter, I know. It'll get better, I assure you. Nejiten is not bound to appear until much later. But I love how you guys enjoy reading it regardless. R&R!


	3. Chapter 3

I'm so happy! Thanks for the reviews!

**Stronger**

iJutsu

**Chapter 3**

Lee at this point sat to his knees and started punching the ground with both fists as hard as he could, making his fingers turn from faint pink to deep red. Blood then shown through the protection tape that was wrapped around his hand. As painful as it was, he didn't stop. It was far less painful than the feeling that he felt in his heart. It was as if millions of Tenten's katanas stabbed his heart. Neji sighed. He allowed Lee to let his despair out now. More tears streamed down his face with his eyes shut tight, not daring to open them up. Neji sighed again. He was hurting as much as Lee was.

"Why?" Lee stammered angrily, still hitting the ground furiously. His pace then began to slow down until his punches were merely just knocks on the floor. He stopped and looked at the ground pitifully. "W-why?!"

His voice was caught in tears, making his voice seem a bit like he was choking. Neji couldn't blame him. What just happened was far from what they believed would happen once they find her. Having their blooming flower of Suddenly, they both heard footsteps coming from behind them. Quick ones. Neji turned and saw Sakura running towards them. Lee seemed too caught up in his thoughts, he didn't notice. She waited until she approached him before she spoke.

"I'm sorry I'm a bit late," panted Sakura, "Did anything happen with the person?"

Neji just pointed his head slightly towards Lee, who was staring at the ground letting tears fall behind him. Sakura gasped and ran over to him. She placed her hand upon his shoulder as he shook, trying to get himself together. Sakura managed to help him stand up, yet not as straight as she hoped. His hand was covering his eyes frustratingly as the other hand was clenched into a fist. She stared at him in concern then back at Neji, who was looking down. Something obviously did happen.

"What happened?" she asked quietly towards Lee.

Lee didn't remove his hand from his eyes, but spoke. "It...It was her. It was Tenten."

Sakura's eyes grew a bit wide as she covered her mouth in shock. Her eyes shone disbelief.

"N-no," she said, shaking her head, moving her hand slowly from her mouth. "It couldn't have..."

"It was," Neji said, lifting up his head, "She came and attacked us, vowing to kill Lee and I both." He made it simple and down to the point. But knowing Sakura, she wanted a more specific response back. Lee remained silent, with his hand still on his eyes. His body was no longer shaking, fortunately enough.

"W-wait a minute," Sakura said, looking at Neji, knowing that Lee wouldn't speak, "How could that have been Tenten? She's missing and...and she wouldn't kill a soul...!" Her voice trailed off, remembering how Tenten killed the guards and almost Kakashi and Gai.

"She changed," Neji simply said.

"Then if that was Tenten," she started off seriously again, "Where is she now?"

Lee's head then jolted up slowly, turning his head towards Sakura, then back at Neji. Neji looked back over at him. His eyes were filled with wanting, with despair and anger mixing with it. He looked sharply at Neji. Before he spoke he roughly wiped his eyes and tightened the tape around both his hands. He then moved the hair off his face caused by the soft wind.

"Let's go," said Lee quietly, turning around. Neji stared at him oddly as he walked up to him.

"We can't," Neji said slowly.

Lee halted in his tracks and slowly turned around facing Neji with a confused expression upon his face. Neji frowned a bit._ "He must've forgotten,"_ Neji thought, also moving the strands of hair that was covering his face. Sakura looked down, for she also knew the reason why. Neji looked at him.

"W-what do you mean 'we can't'?" question Lee with his teeth slightly clenched together.

Neji tried to stay as calm as he could, to not make Lee lose it. "You said yourself that the genins are out missioning along with teachers. If one sees us, one can't help but follow, remember?"

"But we saw her! SAW her!" Lee shot back, both hands in tight fists, "She appeared in Konaha back to us in the flesh! We have to go find her! Every seconds that is passing, the more further away she is getting from us! P-please..." Lee began shaking in the shoulders again before he yelled. "I don't want to lose her again!"

It was painful. It was painful to see Lee in such state. Even if Neji didn't do so, he felt like doing the same thing. This wasn't overreacting. A teammate who they cherish betraying them for the sake of power. Sakura started to shake a bit too, with her eyes getting wet as she stared at Lee. Neji sighed. She must be feeling the pain. As Sakura placed a calm hand on Lee's shoulder, making Lee's shoulder's calm down a bit, Neji spoke.

"I want to find her as much as you," he said, "But where are we to look, Lee? Without a doubt, she's most likely where she hid for 4 years."

Lee stayed quiet and cursed a word under his breath angrily. With her hand still on Lee's shoulder, she looked over at Neji with a blink. She thought of an idea.

"Was there any evidence given when you fought her?" she asked, "D.N.A? Anything of that matter?"

Neji looked around the area where they fought. The area was pretty empty, so anything of Tenten's, besides from hair, would be easy to find. Instantaneously, Neji spotted a black piece of clothing, perhaps the size of the steel on the ninja head band, waving from the tip of the stick. He raised a brow, for that wasn't there when they begun fighting with Tenten. He walked towards it, and when finally up to it, he bent down and pulled it from the stick, tearing it slightly. Pulling it high enough to his eyes, he examined the thing. Then, he remembered. He sliced a piece of her clothing when he attacked her with her own five weapons. He turned around, only to see that Sakura and Lee were already behind him. Neji showed Sakura the item he found and she, too, examined it.

"I take it this is Tenten's clothing?"

Neji nodded. Lee's eyes finally showed a bit of life in them. "We could use that to help find where she is, right?" asked Lee a bit desperately. He sighed in relief when Sakura gave him a small nod and smile.

"I could ask Kakashi-sensei to summon Pakkun," she replied, Pakkun being the pug and smallest, yet reliable, summon of Kakashi's Ninken, "He could track down Tenten."

Lee again gave out a sigh of relief. "Let's get going then," he said, trying to catch a clear breath. Before Lee could look out forward to Kakashi and Gai, for Gai was with him, Sakura stood before him and wrapped her arms around him. Lee blinked in confusion as she did so and he looked down at her, which was just the top of his head, for her head was under his chin.

"It's okay," she whispered, arms still around him. It was then he knew why Sakura hugged him. Tears banging into his eyes, he hugged her back gently. This was to be Lee's best day of his life, to have Sakura finally embraced in his arms. But at this moment, it wasn't.

---

They finally made their way to the hospital in silence. They entered, only to see Gai and Kakashi leaning against the wall of the check-in room. No one was in the room but them. Rock Lee blinked in slight confusion. Gai just gave them a short smile as Kakashi nodded.

"What's up?" stated Kakashi simply.

"W-why aren't you in bed?" Sakura asked, with a hint of concern in her voice. Kakashi couldn't help but chuckle a bit.

"Don't worry," he said, "All we needed was to sit down a rest for a bit."

"But boy," Gai groaned, adding in, "That was one hell of a fight."

Sakura turned her head towards Neji and Lee and nodded, mentioning that they should tell both the teachers about the incident. Neji looked down, somehow finding it hard to say. Lee had the same problem. After a couple of seconds, Lee raised back his head and looked over at Gai, trying to keep himself together and not break down. Breaking down was no an option no longer.

"Gai-sensei," Lee whispered, finding it hard to speak clearly out loud, "The person was...was our...our youthful flower." Lee couldn't say her name. It pained him so. Gai didn't seem to understand, for he stared at Lee in confusion. Neji noticed and took part.

"Tenten," Neji finished.

Kakashi and Gai eyes shot up wide open. For a moment, they stared at them with disbelief, the same look Sakura has given them when they told her. Gai finally blinked, which seemed like he didn't and Kakashi sighed.

"Impossible," Gai muttered, softly, "Tenten's missing. And if that was her, how could she manage to get that strong? Strong enough to knock Kakashi and I down?"

Kakashi stayed quiet for a while, then raised a brow towards Gai. "Come to think of it," Kakashi started, "Gai, didn't you realize all she fought with were merely ninja weapons? Isn't that Tenten's specialty?"

Gai stared at him, caught in thought. Slowly Gai nodded, agreeing that all she used was ninja weapons, and scrolls that contained weapons. His eyes then flashed. He thought Tenten the way of weapon scrolls, how to activate and use them. He was her sensei, after all. But, he found it all hard to believe. He shook his head. "I don't believe..."

"You're going to have to," said Neji, interrupting. He then turned over to Kakashi, "We need your help."

Kakashi just stared, waiting to hear more. Neji turned his head towards Sakura and cocked his head slightly towards Kakashi, motioning her to give him the evidence. Sakura stared at him a bit, not understanding. She then received Neji's glare and she blushed a bit from embarrassment. Shaking her head, she nodded at him and handed over the clothing to Kakashi.

"T-this is a piece of Tenten's clothing," she said after Kakashi held it in his hands, "They were wondering if you summon Pakkun, so he could use that to track her down."

Kakashi paused for a moment before sighing. He then looked at the two former students of Gai. He smiled under his mask and nodded, "That could be arranged," he said, going to the center of the room. He removed a scroll and placed it on the floor, revealing the writing of the summon. He then closed his eyes and focused chakra into his hands before placing them sharply into the center of the scroll. Within seconds, a puff a small smoke surrounded their knees and then revealed their little pug friend, Pakkun. Pakkun stretched and blinked a couple of times before getting a clear version of his surroundings. He first obviously noticed Kakashi.

"We have a task for you, Pakkun," Kakashi said, bending down showing Pakkun the piece of clothing in his hands, "Please examine this and find her."

Pakkun stared, "Who's this 'her'?" he asked.

"Tenten," Lee said, seriously and a bit impatient.

Pakkun still stared, with his forehead rising a bit, "The mouse-hair girl that's been missing?"

"YES," Lee said sharply, trying not to raise his voice, "May you please start?"

Pakkun didn't bother to continue the conversation. The look in both Lee's and Neji's eyes frightened him. He was aware that Tenten was their teammate. He turned over to Kakashi again, who's hand was still out with the clothing. Pakkun took a sniff. Then another. Then another. After a couple, he stepped back and sniffed the air. After, he looked down and nodded at the ninjas before him.

"I'll see what I can do," Pakkun said, before leaping out the window, for the exit door wasn't open for him. Lee ran towards the window and watched him run quick out of Konoha. He closed his eyes, hoping for the best of Pakkun and for the safe and peaceful return of Tenten. Once he opened his eyes, he turned back to his friends and sat down on a chair with a deep sigh. Gai went over and sat next to him, placing a hand on his shoulder calmly, giving him a comforting smile. As hard as it was, Lee gave him back the smile. It didn't last long, for he turned away from his sensei and looked back down with his arms rested upon his knees. Neji sighed. Sakura noticed.

"Aren't you worried?" Sakura asked quietly. It was a foolish question to ask, she knew. But she asked it anyhow, seeing that he wasn't acting at all like how Lee was. Neji just gave enough sigh.

"More than you could imagine," he stated simply, still looking over at Lee and Gai, "I know that may be a shocker."

"Oh, no. That's no shocker at all," she said still quietly. Neji looked over at her strangely, confused of what she just said. Sakura seemed to have noticed his glance, for she turned her head towards him, seeing his confused expression. It was her turn to sigh, "May I speak to you outside for a minute?"

Neji looked at her for a second then gave a nod. They walked outside and stood under the shade of the building, so that they won't leave Lee or the other's sight. Sakura leaned against the wall once Neji crossed his arms, waiting for her to say what she wanted to say. He felt quite odd, for he never actually had a conversation with Sakura. Sakura took a deep breath before she spoke. She also felt odd.

"I bet your wondering why it's no shocker for you to miss somebody. Especially somebody like her."

Neji just nodded.

"I mean, I could see why. She was your teammate for a couple of years now. Being in a team was like having a new family to all of us ninjas. Of course, this is what Tenten told me the day before she left."

His eyes lit up a bit, showing her that he wanted her to continue. The silence from Neji made her feel like this was more harder to do.

"Y-you see, the day before she left, when you became a jonin, Tenten and I were at the training area. Naruto, you and Lee were still sparing then..."

_**Flashback **_

"You've gotten so strong now, Sakura," said a kind voice.

Sakura turned over to the voice who she was walking with along the village. She smiled shyly, "Thanks Tenten. But what makes you say that?"

Tenten shrugged, "I mean, c'mon. You're a medical nin now, and could use a large amount of chakra. I seemed to pass by yours and Naruto's training with Kakashi-sensei to claim the bell for the second time." Tenten winked at her playfully, "I saw that move where you focused your chakra into your fist than onto the floor, freaking out Naruto."

Sakura blushed slightly from the sudden compliment. Tenten again spoke as she looked up into the sky. "You know, all you guys gotten strong. You, Naruto, and who else."

"What about your team?" asked Sakura, looking at her. Tenten's eyes remained towards the sky.

"Of course!" she said in a giggle, "In fact, I admire how strong they've gotten! Lee and Neji's gotten so skilled, I could hardly catch up. Hell, how'd I get placed in their team. A prodigy, a taijutsu master, and me, the...weapon mistress. "

"You're making it sound like it's a bad thing," Sakura said, making Tenten look down towards her, "You got a powerful and precise aim. Better than Neji's and Lee's! I bet one day if you try harder, you'll be as good as them. Twice as good, even."

"Best believe that!" Tenten said, grinning, "I'm not stopping until I could defeat them in a battle. Both of them. I won't rest until I do. Someday, I'll be the one saving him. Not him no longer saving me."

"That's good," Sakura said with a happy sigh. She looked over at Tenten who was still smiling. A thought then came across Sakura's head and they both haven't talked about it in years. "I know this may be a sudden old question, but are you still in love with Neji?"

Tenten's smile faded a bit before she looked at Sakura, astonished by the question. Tenten paused before giving her a small smile.

"Yeah," she breathed out, moving her dark brown hair away from her eyes, "But to tell you the truth, I've been admiring him more than actually 'loving' him."

Sakura blinked, quite not understanding. Tenten continued, "I mean, the more I look at him train, the more I look at him fight, the more I admire him. I always told myself to be more like him. To be better than him, even. I looked up to him. He was like a role model for me, almost like Master Tsunade."

Tenten stayed quiet before saying her last statement. "I love him for that."

_**End of Flashback**_

"And that's what happened," said Sakura to Neji, who was in complete awe, "Then the next day, she was gone."

Neji's eyes shown disbelief, but surprise at the same time. Sakura thought it was best for her to continue speaking.

"You seemed shocked," Sakura said softly, "I thought you knew."

He glared and she flinched. Obviously he didn't.

"I-I mean, if you knew, then that'd be the perfect reason why you would be worrying about her so much."

"How long did she feel that way?" he managed to simply ask.

"I don't know," Sakura said, rubbing her neck, "Since you were genins, I suppose."

Neji stayed quiet and eyed towards the ground, with a slight glare upon his face. How had he been so blind to notice? It wasn't his fault, however. Tenten never showed hints of affection towards him before. Though, that's what he believed. When it came to love, he was no genius. Sakura was fidgeting a bit, wondering if she had said what she just said was the right thing to do. Perhaps not. But she didn't regret it. She was far from over talking with him. She stood up straight from the wall, making Neji look up a bit to face her.

"May I ask you one more question, Neji?"

Neji merely nodded, pacing himself. Sakura's story entered him deep. She paused for a moment before speaking, thinking of the right way to put it.

"Do you...or did you ever feel the same way? In any way possible?"

Neji stared at her in a jolt, feeling a little warm in the face. Faint pink shown through his pale skin. This being the first conversation with Sakura, and here he was, ready to spill out everything he kept personal. He cleared his throat.

"I never did look up to her, as your story states like she did towards me, I'll tell you that," he said. Neji then sighed a big sigh as he a bit frustratingly moved his hair from his face and back on his head, leaving his hand there. He looked at Sakura straight in the eye and after about 5 seconds, he removed his hand from his head and let it fall down to his side.

It was then he thought of Tenten. She was always there for him. She was always there when he wanted to train. Always there to provide him with support. Always there to take care of his injuries. And she never had to ask. It was if both honored each other's presence. Never has he told her to leave, but merely just stay 'Neji' and let her do as she wishes, unless she bothers him. He remembered her laughs, her smiles, her cries, her love towards both him and Lee. Neji closed his eyes for a long time, making Sakura feel more worried and uncomfortable. He then opened his eyes slowly, finished from his thoughts.

"I do feel that way," he said in a faint whisper. An unexpected caring smile came across Sakura's face.

"Then," she started, "No wonder you're as worried as Lee."

Silence grew around them, making things more awkward than it was. Sakura had nothing else to say. With a slight blush and a silly smile, she offered Neji and her to go back in a wait for Pakkun. Lee must've been wondering what they were doing, so Neji nodded and opened the door for her. He walked in after she did and watched her sit next to Lee. Lee's head rose up and looked at her, who gave him a smile. Lee smiled back and decided to keep his head up to look at her. She blinked.

"Thank you, for caring about how I felt," Lee started, meaning the hug that they gave each other, "I really do appreciate it."

Sakura couldn't help but smile as her 'your welcome'. Lee gave a small smirk as he leaned back on his chair, stretching a bit.

"Maybe that's a sign that perhaps the beautiful Sakura has feelings for me?" Lee said teasingly. Sakura stared at him funny, then understood his little game. She giggled as he gave her the wink he did many years ago before the Chunin exams.

"Ew!" Sakura laughed, leaning to her side, dodging his 'wink', "You're eyebrows! Are they alive?"

Before Lee knew it, he was laughing. Laughing along with Sakura, and a bit of Gai, who was sitting beside them. Neji couldn't help but smile a bit, finally seeing Lee cheer up. After taking a deep breath after the laughs, he smiled once more at Sakura.

"Thanks," he said again. Before Sakura could respond, they heard small footsteps, yet rapid. It was coming this direction and each ninja stood up straight, looking at the door, which was half way open. Suddenly, a small brown pug squeezed through the doors panting a bit. It was Pakkun. Pakkun sat down on the floor and looked up to the ninjas. He nodded.

"I know where she is."

**TBC**

Not one of my best, but oh well. I'll keep trying. It's just that I've been a bit writers blocked lately. Well, please R&R, so I have reasons to continue :)


	4. Chapter 4

After reading the emails and reviews that I've gotten from you and my critic, and after reading it all again to myself, I seriously do need to improve my spelling. XD Thanks for the reviews. 'Preciate it.

**Stronger**

by iJutsu

**Chapter 4**

Lee nearly killed the dog. He swiftly got out of his seat and picked Pakkun up and shook him rapidly, though he didn't mean to in any way. "Where is she?!" he demanded.

"Lee, put down the dog. It'll never answer," Gai sighed, making Lee put him down 'some-what' gently. He was becoming unusually impatient. But these were serious matters, and he had every rights to. They couldn't let her escape again. Not this time. Pakkun groaned and growled a bit towards Lee. Lee noticed but didn't bother to apologize. He didn't see the necessity to do so. Pakkun then walked over to Kakashi and sat by his foot.

"Well?" Kakashi said towards the dog.

"She's underground," he stated simply, "Although, that's what I believe. I caught her smell deep within the forest. Strangely enough, trees were around in a circle, making one small circle of pure ground in between them. That's where I smelt her. It didn't seem to go beyond that point, nor did I bother to. That meant danger."

"Underground?" Neji said quite questionably. Pakkun just stared dully.

"Yes. Underground. In a hole. In a basement. Whatever you humans call it these days."

"B-but how could she be underground?" asked Sakura, taking part, "Is there like a base of some sort beneath there?"

"Beats me," Pakkun said.

"I-I don't understand," Lee said, out of no where, looking at Pakkun with full confusion written all over his face, "Are you sure it was beneath the ground? How far did you look? Why didn't you look?" He was filled with questions.

"Didn't you hear me, boy?" Pakkun said sharply, "I'm sure it was beneath the ground because her smell was below the dirt. I caught her smell when I was merely in the Konoha forest. I didn't have to go that far. The smell was strong too; easy to catch. She must've been there for some time, now. And I didn't look because, again I say, that meant danger for just a dog like me."

Everyone was silent for a while in thought, before Neji broke it, summing up what Pakkun just said about it. "If you were able to find her that quickly," he started, "And saying that she might have been there at the Konoha forest for a large amount of time, that must be the reason why we couldn't find her in any other land."

Lee's eyes widely opened, and were filled with disbelief. "N-no," he muttered, knowing where Neji was getting at, "Don't tell me..."

He had to. "That underground hiding place where she's supposedly is now," he said slowly, but with a hint of frustration, "must have been the place where she ran away to for the past 4 years."

Rock Lee remained silent, staring at Neji with wide eyes. He couldn't believe it; he didn't want to believe it. He shook his head and walked towards Neji, gripping onto his shoulders with his rough hands. Neji eyed to his left, avoiding eye contact with Lee. He didn't want to see his pain. Lee shook Neji a couple of times slowly.

"Say that isn't true," Lee said in a shaky laugh, still shaking him, "Say that isn't true!"

Neji flinched. "Lee..."

"Please! That cannot be true!" Lee said, suddenly now becoming more serious and shaking him more faster, "Don't tell me she's been hiding there all this time! In Konoha! Beneath our own footsteps! A-all this time...no, it can't!"

Sakura literally had to pull Lee from Neji to keep him from shaking him. Obviously, Neji wouldn't respond if he was being forced like that. Lee was now standing a foot away from Neji, with Sakura's arms around his waist from behind. He couldn't push her off, so staying like that was his only option. Neji rubbed his shoulder as he gave Lee a vigorous look.

"It's a possibility. A strong one," Neji stated to him, before sighing, "I'm sorry. It may be true."

Sakura felt Lee shaking more and more at the second, hands clutched together tightly and head down. Sakura was going to say something to him, but she felt his body calm down a bit and his hands slowly fold out. Sakura, a bit confused of his reaction, slowly removed her arms from his waist and kept it to her sides and watched him closely. With his still head down, he walked towards Neji. Neji didn't bother to move. He didn't mean to, for Lee just passed right by him. Neji too looked down, already knowing what Lee was doing. Sakura watched Lee and saw him stop right in front of the wall that was behind Neji. Lee snarled softly.

"She didn't even leave Konoha, and we didn't know it. 4 years," he muttered under his breath, "She was so near. So n-near..."

He remained quiet before his eyes flashed angrily and he raised his head.

"DAMN!" he yelled furiously, punching the wall with as much force he could get. Sakura gasped and the teachers sighed, seeing the huge hole he made on the wall. Sakura's hands covered her mouth in shock. Then, Lee brought his hand that he used up to his chest and clutched it with his other arm. Neji didn't move from his position, with only the wind coming from the hole Lee made blowing his hair. Instead, he raised he head and spoke.

"Stop it," Neji said sharply. Lee flinched and Neji continued, "Letting out your anger like this isn't going to help anything. Yes, she was so near and we both were too foolish to not notice that. But the past is past and the only thing we could focus on now is finding her."

Neji then turned around to face Lee. Lee has been already facing Neji while he spoke. Neji took a step closer to Lee and looked at him straight in the eye. Lee didn't look away as Neji said, "We're not going to make the same mistake again."

It took Lee a couple of minutes before he could nod in agreement. He let out a shaky sigh, frustrated of what he just did. Sakura finally removed her hand from her mouth and sighed in relief that Lee was okay. Lee then began dusting himself off and tightening up his protective tape around his arms.

"Let's get going," Lee said to Neji while still tightening up the tape. He then looked up at Gai then back at his work, "I apologize, Gai-sensei, but you cannot come with us in this journey. She wishes for only Neji and I and we wouldn't want that much trouble."

Gai merely nodded, understanding. When Lee finished, he looked down at Pakkun, "Where at, again?"

"About 500 meters north from the Konoha entrance to the forest. You won't miss it. You'll spot a about 10 trees formed around in a circle, with an empty spot of dirt in the center."

Neji and Lee nodded at the same time. They both then turned to everyone. Lee first looked over at Sakura and dearly smiled at her, mouthing the words: _Thank you _towards her. Sakura couldn't help but smile the same way and rush up to hug him before his journey. Kakashi stared at them oddly. _"Sakura's attitude towards Lee sure did change," _he thought, remembering when she used to always avoid him and make fun of him due to his hair, eyebrows and outfit. Lee hugged her back closely one last time before releasing her. He nodded at Kakashi and gave a thumbs up towards his own sensei, Gai.

"Wish us luck, Gai-sensei!" he said, pinging a smile, trying to keep a positive attitude.

"Yosh!" Gai grinned, pinging him back the same smile with his thumb also up, "May your strong power of youth stay with you throughout your expedition!"

Giving them one last smile, they headed out towards the door. Neji looked one last time, catching the glance of Sakura. Sakura looked at him and mouthed: _Good luck. _Neji just chuckled quietly with a small head shake and left the building, understanding what she meant. Lee looked over at Neji, once he exited. Neji looked at him back and nodded. Taking one last breath they ran towards the exit, or where they had their 'first fight' with Tenten. They ran in their incredible speed until they were only inches within the forest. It was best for them to just walk towards their destination from there, so that they won't make all that much noise for her to hear. Lee and Neji looked sharply forward as they walked constantly towards their target. It was 500 meters north, which luckily for them, wasn't hard to fight. As they walked, Lee again looked over at Neji. Neji looked back.

"I'm sorry about my actions earlier at the hospital," he said to Neji sadly, "It's just so hard to believe."

"I can't blame you," Neji replied simply. Lee sighed.

"Do you actually believe that it's her? That Tenten, _our _Tenten, is actually that...disaster?"

Neji thought for a while before speaking, "What makes you think that she isn't?"

"Well, she never did say that she really was Tenten. Just that she knew us and hates us both. Even if she was, why would she hate us? Why would she have urges to kill for power? It's just not like her. And if she changed, why would she want to change into that?"

Neji remained silent. Lee did make a point, but they were all questions that only she could answer. She did tell them that it was for them to find out, anyway. Lee again sighed.

"And," Lee continued, "She wasn't wearing the necklace I gave her years before her disappearance."

That caught Neji's attention. Lee had a incredibly sad expression on his face, just on mentioning that necklace. It wasn't jealously, it was somewhat shocking for Neji to find out now. "You mean the one with the large heart?" asked Neji. Lee caught his expression and smiled softly.

"Yup and I guess you should know the story," said Lee, "This was about 6 years ago? 2 or 3 years before her disappearance, I believe. It was the day before graduation, where the next day we were no longer a team. Anyways..."

_**Flashback**_

Lee leaned against the tree in exhaustion after his training with Tenten. Neji was out, visiting the Hyuuga clan. Lee looked over at Tenten, who was drinking water as her sweat came down her forehead. They were both tired but both proud of improving their attacks. After Tenten placed down her water bottle, she grinned at Lee and Lee did the same. Neither had talked much during training. Not that they could, but tomorrow was the day of the graduation, making it bittersweet for both of them. They were training together for the last time as a team. It was a shame that Neji wasn't there with them, all due to family matters.

"Good training, Tenten!" he said, catching his final breath that he needed, "It is surprising about how much you improved!"

"Thank you, Lee," she smiled, "I still can't catch up to you, though."

"Of course not! You'll never catch up to my speed, Tenten!" he laughed, not meaning it in the insulting matter, "You are still a bit slow. But do not worry, youthful flower, you will soon get faster than ever!"

Tenten glared and punched his arm playfully and shot back, "Well! At least my aim is more precise and doesn't hit feet away from the target!"

"Your aim might be the most accurate in our team, but you'll never be strong enough to defeat me!"

"You sure do have a lot to say coming from a guy who wears green spandex."

"Hey! It's stylish!"

"Yeah, considering only you and Gai-sensei wear it."

After that they begun to laugh hard. Tenten even had to hold onto her stomach to control herself. Minutes passed and they were now catching for air from laughter. The sun shone warm upon their heads, and Lee looked up and back down. He sighed sadly.

"This is it, isn't it?" he said, "After tomorrow, we're no longer going to be Team Gai and-"

"STOP right there!" she said sharply, making Lee surprised by her sudden glare, "Don't say such a thing!"

"But..."

"No! No 'but's! That's never going to happen! We're always going to be a team no matter what happens! Sure, we're no longer going to be fighting side by side any longer but that doesn't change the fact that we were once Team Gai, nor does it mean that it has to change! Didn't you say that our team youth was to grow and remain forever?"

"Tenten," he said slowly, seeing that her eyes were getting watery, "Your right. I'm sorry I said such a thing." He then placed a hand on her shoulder, "I'll just shut up now. Let's just try to keep the positive. Oh! Hey, I got you something."

Tenten blinked and stared at him oddly. He reached into his pocket bag and pulled out a white necklace, with a large heart shaped, about a 4 inches long, locket attached to it. The locket was open, to indicate that nothing was in it. After dusting it off a bit, he handed it over to her with his pinging smile. Her eyes were still a bit wide with amazement as she looked at it.

"Wow," she said breathlessly, "It's so pretty! But...why?"

"You know," he smiled, "As a remembrance of me. Here give it to me. Okay turn around, I'll put it on."

"I'll wear it forever!" said Tenten as she happily turned around and waited for Lee to place on the necklace. As he tried to put it on, she spoke, "Hey. Let's make a promise! Even after tomorrow, we'll always stay a team forever! We'll never let go of each other! Promise?"

Lee chuckled once he finished, making Tenten look at her necklace that hung from her neck. He smiled. "Promise."

_**End of Flashback**_

"After that, I told you about the promise, remember? You also promised her that." Lee said, "A-and she promised to wear it forever. Then, here came today and she wasn't wearing it. What else did she turn into? A...promise-breaker? A liar?"

Neji stayed quiet. He had absolutely nothing to say to that, but he learned a lot more about Tenten after hearing Lee's and Sakura's story about her. He did understand how Lee felt. A remembrance should be held onto forever. Lee groaned then sighed and looked ahead. They were probably 200 meters away. Strange how fast they walked. The story must have killed time. For about five minutes, they didn't speak. They didn't know what else to say. Lee couldn't take it and decided to break the silence.

"Say," Lee said, "What were you and Sakura talking about earlier?"

Neji blinked and he felt his face grow a bit warm. He then shook his head, "Nothing."

Lee didn't bother to continue. He just nodded and continued looking forward. It was trees, then more trees, then a couple more trees, and the sun that shined through the leafs of the tree. Lee looked up and sighed in relief. The day was still young. It was still in the early afternoon. Lee then looked over at Neji would was looking around his surroundings constantly. He raised an eyebrow and did same thing, not seeing anything.

"What are you looking at?" Lee asked.

Neji didn't answer. He started to hear the rustling of leaves and, probably sticks, coming from a distance. It wasn't caused by wind, for wind wasn't blowing that well at the moment. Suddenly, he stopped in his tracks, putting his arm in front of Lee to prevent him from continue walking. Lee stopped and stared at Neji strangely. Neji didn't bother to look at him back, already knowing the kind of looks he was given by Lee.

"Stay put. There's someone here."

Lee blinked and looked about. He finally caught the glance of somebody. It was a female. Her back was to them so they couldn't see her face. Her hair was inches above her elbow, and was the color of light brown, much more lighter and longer than the hair of the girl they were looking for. That was a relief, knowing that it wasn't Tenten. Lee looked in closer. She was clutching onto her stomach with one arm and leaning on the tree with her other arm. Her head was also down and she was shaking very much. Lee gasped.

"Neji! That girl is hurt!"

Once the girl heard them, she stopped shaking. She didn't turn around to look at them. She stood dead frozen. Neji took a closer look at the girl and then nodded towards Lee, mentioning that they should go to her. Lee also nodded and they quickly, but as quietly as they could, run to her. She still didn't move, but her eyes remained wide open. Lee frowned. She looked frightened by their presence. As calm as Lee could get, he took a step closer to her.

"Miss, are you alright?" he asked concernedly.

No response came from the girl, for she begun to shake again, eyes getting wider and skin getting more pale. This worried them. She looked extremely hurt, or numb at the matter, and looked like she needed hospitality immediately. But, if they were to stop and help her get taken care of, more time is taken away for searching for Tenten and the getting to the underground 'base'. Neji grunted. What were they to do? Lee seemed to be thinking the same thing. He took another step towards her.

"Are you alright?" Lee repeated, "You look very hurt and..."

He was interrupted when he saw her begin to move. Her body was shaking as she did so, including the arm that was leaning against the tree to support her. Slowly, she managed to turn around little by little with her arm still around her stomach and head, as noticed, down. Shivering, she tried to lift her head, but her head stayed up for only a second, for her legs gave up on her and she fell towards Neji. Neji blinked and quickly held onto her, with his hands gripped on her arms. She began shaking again, and fortunately enough, she was able to lift her head. It pained her, for it was like pounds of stuff was upon her head. Neji grunted as he finally got a firm hold onto her. He then looked down at her, noticing her stare. Their eyes locked and again her eyes got wide and suddenly full of life. Neji stared back in awe. She looked very familiar. Strangely familiar.

Almost like Tenten.

But not the Tenten they fought with. Not the Tenten who had betrayed them. But the other. She looked like the Tenten who they once knew as the joyful, happy supportive Tenten. The one who's eyes would shine whenever she would learn a new technique. The one who would laugh at anything. The one who would cry for her team. The one they want back.

The girl didn't stop staring. Her eyes started to shine with tears that went down her cheek ever so slowly. Neji and Lee looked at her questionably. Suddenly, a shaky smile came across her lips. A happy smile.

"N-N-Neji? L-Lee?" she stuttered almost joyfully, as her shaky hands went to touch Neji's face, "Is it r-really you?"

She then looked over at Lee, her smile getting bigger and more tears flowing out of her eyes. She then, as carefully as she could, released herself from Neji's grip and stepped over to Lee. After taking one step, Lee had to hold onto her, for she almost fell again. Once Lee was holding onto her, she without hesitation wrapped her arms around him. She embraced him as hard as she could, like a little girl holding onto her favorite teddy bear. Lee was caught off guard by the sudden hug and couldn't react. Why was he to hug a stranger? A stranger that knew who they were? She began to rub her face against his chest. Lee shivered.

"F-f-finally," she said, now crying and wetting Lee's vest slightly, "I-I'm home..."

Lee and Neji were very confused. Lee allowed her to cry on him, for he believed pushing her off wouldn't be good at a time like this. Lee tried to stay calm.

"You know us, miss?" he asked kindly.

All of a sudden, her eyes shot open and she stopped crying. Lee seemed to notice, for he lightly pushed her back, but kept his hands holding onto each of her arms. She looked at him with her wide wet eyes. Her eyes that were once showing happiness were now showing pain and sadness. Neji and Lee just kept staring at her, not knowing whether or not to feel bad for her. She looked over at Neji then back at Lee. She started to shake her head slowly.

"N-no. T-this can't be an illusion...not again!" she said in almost a scream, "It can't...It can't..."

"_An illusion?_" thought Neji, getting him quite suspicious. Lee grunted softly, trying to keep her up.

"What are you talking about?" Lee said, trying to calm her down with his voice, "Do you really know who we are? You look awfully familiar, but I'm afraid we've never met you before."

Tears were rolling down her face as she spoke, "G-guys...it's me..! D-don't you recognize me?"

Lee and Neji unfortunately shook their head as a 'no'. She was now sobbing with hiccups in between each cry. Lee felt a pain in his heart. They were hurting her, but they had absolutely nothing to do with her. Neji looked up. They had to continue looking. Lee sighed and looked at her straight in the eye.

"Miss, you're hurt. You must be sick, and perhaps your seeing things," he said comfortingly.

"I know what I'm seeing!" she yelled with harsh tears flowing down her face, then pointing at each of them with her shaky hand, "Y-your Rock Lee. Y-you Neji Hyuuga..! We...promised...we're...you and...Neji..."

Neji and Lee were staring at her in complete confusion, getting her more hurt inside. She looked down, trying to control her tears while putting her hand up to her chest, where it hurt. Neji even found himself feeling a bit bad for the girl. She did indeed look familiar, but it just couldn't be who they thought it was. They already found her and now they're trying to find her. Lee then felt her hand travel up to her neck, as she slowly slip part of her fingers into her dirty shirt. Her elbow was hitting Lee's chest slightly. When she finally removed her fingers, she looked up at Lee with her sad eyes. She tried to give them a reassuring smile. Lee looked down. She seemed to be holding something attached to her neck.

"L-lee, don't...don't you k-know?" she shakily asked, as her hands slowly unfolded, revealing an item in her hands. Lee's eyes widened. "Y-you gave me this...r-remember?"

Neji's eyes widen a bit as well once Lee gasped softly. Lee looked at her then back at the thing she was holding.

It was the necklace. The white heart shaped locket necklace that he gave her.

Lee was caught in complete shock. His grip on her arms loosened and took a small step back, making her stand her own. _"H-how...?" _Lee thought, frustratingly,_"I gave that to...Wait, W-what the hell..?" _His eyes then shifted back to the girl. Her eyes were now showing a bit of hope in them. Lee focused on her, and so did Neji. She sighed shakily and released the necklace. She then used both her hands slowly to make two buns on her hair. Neji and Lee's eyes were now wide open.

"N-now do you recognize me?" she sadly asked, putting back down her arms and letting her hair fall back down for her arms were getting numb. Tears again filled her eyes, as she looked over at Neji, "P-please...It's m-me...Ten-"

She was interrupted as she felt a sharp pain on her back, causing her to unexpectedly cough out blood. Lee gasped and she lost balanced, falling to her side. Neji, just in time, caught her and held her close. He looked down at her. A kunai was stuck on her back. The kunai then fell, making her cough uncontrollably. Neji grunted and looked around for who suddenly attacked her. He gasped quietly as his eyes opened wide in shock. Lee looked and did the same. On the tree branch, a couple of feet away from them, stood the betrayer. She had an evil smirk upon her face, with a kunai in her hand, indicating that she was the one who threw it.

In a matter of seconds, she was right in front of Neji and Lee. She chuckled and took a step towards them. She then placed a hand on the shoulder of the girl lying in Neji's arm and grinned at Neji and Lee. She spoke, with the wind blowing the bangs of her short dark hair.

"I see you met my friend, Tenten."

**TBC**

Ha. I bet you at least expected that Lee and Neji would find her and try to make her good again. (Well, that's what my friend thought, and I found that pretty original and boring.) It sounds pretty confusing now, but keep reading on, and I assure you, it'll make sense. Hopefully. R&R:D


	5. Chapter 5

Thanks for the reviews! I love how you keep my hyped to write this. :)

**Stronger**

by iJutsu

"Is this some kind of cruel joke?" Lee snarled at both girls, not knowing which one to get mad at. His eyes were firing with anger.

Neji couldn't blame him. Using a teammate as a toy with them was low. Then again, which one was the teammate? Which one was Tenten? Neji looked down at the one in his arms, eyes wide in fear and blood traveling down her lip. She started shivering again once the other placed her hand on her shoulder. Neji then looked at the betrayer. She was grinning at him and Lee, as if nothing happened between her and the other girl. That got Lee even more angry. Despite the whole Tenten dilemma, Lee couldn't stand it when someone hurts someone innocent.

"My, my, my," sighed the short haired Tenten, "You're always running away from me, Mistress Tenten."

'Mistress' gasped softly under her breath. Neji and Lee looked over at the attacker in confusion. Lee grunted. _"Why did she call her 'Mistress'?" _Lee thought, still glaring. (Mistress being a female Master) Neji thought the exact same thing. The attacker laughed, as she drew her hand back and placed it on her hip. The girl was still shaking in Neji's arms. Neji looked down and was to hold her closer, but didn't, for she softly pushed Neji off of her and with his support, turned around to face the one who just spoke to her. She smirked when she received a furious look from the girl.

"Why are you mad at me, Mistress?" she chuckled, "I mean, I'm only helping you. I'm only saving you the trouble. Didn't you want to get revenge on those two fools? Isn't that what you told me?"

Lee's face dropped a bit from anger to surprise and shock as he looked over at them. Neji stared in confusion._"Revenge?"_ Neji thought seriously. He looked over at the girl who was once in his arms. Her legs were shaking, and her arms were around her stomach again. She was also coughing between breaths. It was obvious that her body was to give up on her soon.

"I-I never asked you to do it f-for me!" the long haired Tenten yelled dryly, her voice then getting soft, "I did want...want revenge...but...but I didn't want them to get hurt...! Stop it please...

Asuka."

Lee and Neji's eyes flashed opened. _"Asuka?" _they thought together in great confusion. Neji looked over at the short haired girl. He glared and Lee finally understood what this all meant. Lee looked over at Neji quickly. Neji feeling him looking at him and he also turned to him.

"Neji," he started, "If that girl is this 'Asuka', that means the one she's calling 'Mistress' must really be..."

"Tenten," Neji finished, as if he was out of breath.

Tenten's legs finally gave up. She fell down to her knees painfully, with her hands pushing against the ground to help her not fall down any further. Her head was down and she was clutching onto the grass.

"I didn't want them to get hurt..."she repeated, voice still soft and shaky, "It wasn't suppose to be like this..."

Laughing, the Asuka of a person walked over to the girl on the floor and bent down. She placed her thumb under Tenten's chin, lifting her face not so gently. She drew back her hand and, still bending, looked into her eyes, giving the poor girl more fear and pain. The girl's short hair was covering part of her eyes due to the wind, hiding such satisfaction in her eyes. Tenten flinched.

"I'm doing this because I know you never will," she said to her, "You don't have the heart for revenge. Especially towards these two. You hold back, even after all this training. And you call yourself a ninja."

Her eyes were now getting wet with angry tears. Laughing once again, Asuka stood up in front of her and took out her katana. Neji blinked. This time, she only had one katana and she was missing her pocket bag of weapons. "Besides," Asuka continued, "They look fun to kill. And considering that you were their teammate, might as well kill you too, Mistress." Tenten caught a glance of it and looked down, shaking uncontrollably. She was empty-handed and she could barely move. That made Asuka more satisfied.

"Now die!" she yelled, striking the weapon towards Tenten head.

After a second, Tenten flinched, only to find out that it didn't even touch her hair.

The attacker eye's widened in shock as her katana was hit by a kunai._"What the hell?!"_ she thought angrily, seeing at her attack was stopped. She then growled, seeing the small weapon on the ground. Neji had another in his hand, smirking. He threw it to prevent her from attacking the Tenten. He threw another one towards her, and she easily blocked it with her katana. Little did she know what was behind her. She felt a movement from behind her and before she was able to turn around, Lee attacked with the same move he did with her before.

"Leaf Gale!"

She was sent flying, until her back hit a nearby tree. Lee straightened up from his attack and grinned at the girl, with determination in his eyes. Neji, seeing that Lee and his plan was going perfectly, ran over to the 'Mistress Tenten'. He bent down in front of her and lifted up her face with his fingers slowly. Her eyes grew wide for thinking that it was Asuka, but when she realized who it was, her face softened a bit. He brought back his hands and looked at her in the eye. She shivered.

"Are you okay?" he asked quietly.

She merely nodded and looked over at Lee, who was now watching Asuka walk numbly towards him. Neji turned his head. She was angry. Of course, she didn't expect to get hit nor did she expect to not know that Lee was behind her. _"She obviously wasn't expecting battle," _thought Neji, _"She didn't bring any other weapon." _Lee focused on Asuka. She was now at a point where she was limping towards him. He became deep in thought, and realized something he was soon to tell Neji about: a solution. Finally, she made it and stood in front of Lee. She jabbed a finger towards his face and glared. Lee didn't move an inch.

"This isn't over," she whispered furiously before jumping into the sky, throwing a small silver ball towards them. Lee gasped and swiftly turned to Neji.

"Neji! Smoke bomb!"

There was no time to look at it, for it already hit the ground, producing large amount of smoke that began to surround them. Suddenly, Tenten began to cough. At this rate, she's most likely not to get through the smoke. Neji, knowing that Tenten was in front of him, quickly grabbed onto her. He held her closely, with his hand lightly pushing her face against his chest to prevent her from taking in any more of the air. As fast as he could, he shakily stood up and wrapped his arm around her legs, and kept his other hand lightly against her head. He then looked around.

"Neji!" yelled Lee from a distance, "Get out of the smoke!

Following his voice, he quickly ran, holding onto the girl as he did so, for her grip around him was starting to loosen up. To their relief, the smoke was starting to fade, making it easier for Neji to see his surroundings, and most importantly, Lee. He ran closer and closer to him, and finally stood next to him, with only having to catch his breath once. Lee sighed in relief, glad to see him make it out safe. Lee then looked over at the girl he was holding. Her face was still against his chest while her arms were still around his neck. Lee's eyes softened up.

"Is she alright?" he whispered.

Before Neji could answer, her arms slowly started to fall down his neck to his arms and her head slowly drew back from his chest. Opening her eyes to the best that she could, she gave them a small smile. Her smile. After closing back her eyes, she fainted.

--

They were now in front of the Konoha Hospital. Getting her cured was more important than finding Asuka at the moment. The sky was now orange, indicating that it was late afternoon. As early as it, they don't believe they'll be looking for her until tomorrow. Lee looked through the door and blinked. Gai, Kakashi, and Sakura were still there. Gai seemed to have noticed Lee's glance, for he swiftly got off his chair and opened the door for them. Sakura and Kakashi looked over at Gai, then at Lee and Neji once they entered the room.

"Lee! Neji!" Sakura yelped happily, running up to them. She then stopped in her tracks when she saw the girl resting in Neji's arms. She looked at her, then at Neji, then at Lee. Kakashi sighed and walked over to them, who awkwardly did the same thing as Sakura. Gai, however, touched the girl, moving the strand of hair away from her face. He sighed happily and smiled softly at her.

"Now, that's my student," Gai whispered, before quickly turning around to point at a random nurse, "You! Bring this girl to an emergency room immediately! Immediately, I say!"

Without having to hear him say it twice, about 3 nurse came to them, with one rolling a medical bed. One of them carefully got Tenten from Neji's arms and placed her softly on the bed. Giving them just a simple bow, they pushed the bed and went towards the room. One nurse stayed and stared at them, while Lee and Neji were watching the bed get smaller and smaller as it moved away. Sakura looked bewildered towards Lee and Neji. She looked at Lee. He didn't look like he was in the mood to speak about the situation. She sighed and looked down for a moment. She desperately wanted to know. Lee heard her and turned around to face her. She looked up at him.

"Something wrong?" Lee asked sweetly, giving her a smile. Sakura blinked for a moment, for she thought that he was depressed. She then giggled embarrassingly before she asked.

"Who was that?" Sakura asked, giving in as she cocked her head slightly to the side.

Lee looked at Sakura for a moment, then at Neji, then back at Sakura and sighed. Gai and Kakashi were also waiting for his answer. He then rubbed his head, "Sakura, that was Tenten."

Silence came over them for what seemed like hours. Gai-sensei was right. Sakura then broke it.

"Tenten?" Sakura repeated in a form a question, "What do you mean? I thought the one who attacked us was...and she looked nothing like..."

"Excuse me!" yelled a nurse that was running towards them. Lee immediately stood up and looked over at the nurse. She then looked at them with a sweet smile, "She's okay."

Gai glared. "That was awfully quick!" he snarled, knowing that it has only passed about 8 minutes, "I want through and precise examination for her! Give her the best treatment you can! Did you even-"

"Gai-sensei," said Sakura, holding onto his arm to prevent him from yelling any further, "We have better medical equipment and technology now. There's no need to worry. We're now able to indicate injuries in a matter of minutes." Coming from a medical nin, Gai couldn't help but believe her. The nurse nodded in agreement.

"It's true," the nurse stated, pulling out her clip board that held information about Tenten's body, "She's going to be okay. She has a few injuries around her body, but nothing serious. No broken bones, or disabled parts were located. Her wounds should be able to heal over night, but I'm afraid she won't be able to fight until the next week. She also seemed to have been missing chakra, or energy, in her body. She's so cold and numb. She needs to rest for a couple of days to restore her energy. But don't worry. She'll be back to normal in no time!"

Lee sighed in relief, "How is she doing now?"

"She resting right now," she smiled, then looked at the clock, "You all have some time left if you want to visit her. Though, only 2 visitors per room. You many each stay with her as long as you want for about 30 minutes. It's getting dark. " The nurse then looked outside, seeing the once orange sky turn into faded purple. Everyone nodded.

"Kakashi and I will go first," stated Gai towards their former students, "To save time for Lee and Neji. You both must have many questions for her."

Lee and Neji nodded in agreement and sat down, watching Gai and Kakashi disappear into the hallways. Sakura took a seat in between them. She sighed to herself and leaned back on her seat. She believed asking them more about what happened wasn't necessary at the moment anymore. They felt that talking about it won't get them nowhere. Although, they do plan on telling everyone what happened after they sort the whole situation out. Out the blue, Lee sighed happily.

"At least we found her, right?" Lee smiled.

Sakura smiled along with him. Neji did as well. All things considered, he couldn't be happier. Sakura looked over at Neji, then stretched, with a grin on her face.

"I'll let you guys visit her for the remaining time left," she said kindly.

"You don't want to see her, Sakura?" asked Lee.

"I do, but I have all the time in the world for that, since we finally have her back," she replied, "You're her teammates, and I bet you missed her dearly. Plus, you have questions for her. I wouldn't want to take time from you guys to find out stuff about Asuka. Besides..." Her eyes then flickered at Neji and her grin widened. Neji raised a brow, "I bet Neji wants to tell her something very important. Isn't that right, Neji?"

"Oh?" Lee said, giving Neji the same grin, "What is it that you need to tell her?" It seemed like Lee already knew where this was going.

Neji twitched as the two looked closely at him, "You're also aware of _this, _Lee?" he sighed.

"Huh? Oh, no, of course not," Lee laughed, with a hint of sarcasm, "I mean, my guess was that you were going to confess your feelings of love towards her. But then again, that was a guess."

Neji glared, making both Lee and Sakura laugh. Sakura then spoke, "Are you going to do it? It's the perfect chance! You'll never have a chance like this again! Before you know it, after she gets better, you'll probably never have the courage to ask her ever again!" Sakura was trying not to giggle while she spoke. It didn't seem to be working. Neji sighed.

"I hate you both," he said with a chuckle. Lee and Sakura's eyes lit up happily, knowing that he was going to do it. While their laughs started to fade, Gai and Kakashi were making their way back to the waiting room with them. Neji and Lee stood up immediately. Gai looked at the former students, with eyes wondering who was going to go next. Lee again looked over at Sakura and Sakura merely nodded, indicating for them to go. Lee smiled thankfully and looked over at Gai. Gai nodded, already understanding what was happening.

"Go down the hall, then go left. Her room number is 10," Gai said, pointing towards the hallway. And with no further words, Lee and Neji were off running to the room. They ran, ran as fast as they could. Although, they later found out that it wasn't necessary, for her room was only a 30 second walk from the waiting room. And for that, they missed the room and had to run back. Once they made it to her room, Neji and Lee both opened the door, with Lee's hand on the door and Neji's hand on the knob. They looked about. There she was.

Tenten was staring at them with wide eyes, with her long hair blowing against her face from the wind coming from her open window. Even though the wind made her hair cover her eyes, she didn't take her eyes off them. Lee and Neji stared at her calmly. Suddenly, the wind stopped, making her hair drop. It didn't take long for her to begin to cry. Her eyes started to water and she covered her face with both her hands. The two boys blinked multiple times.

"I-I'm so sorry," she choked, "I-I'm so so s-so sorry. P-please don't hate me," Tears were now seeping through her fingers and traveling down her hand, "I'm sorry f-for running away. I'm s-s-sorry for making you worry. I'm sorry for get-getting you hurt. B-but please. D-don't hate me. Don't hate me, please. P-please. A-anything but that. I-I'm so happy t-that your here w-with me. I missed...missed you so much..."

Lee couldn't take it anymore. Within seconds, he ran to her and hugged her, with her hands still on her face. This time, he wasn't pushed away. She was still sobbing onto Lee's shirt, and Lee again allowed her. Then, Lee felt tears stream down from his own eyes. He cried softly along with her, though his tears were no longer bitter. He cried with happiness as he held his teammate in his arms. Lee then released, and looked at her. She was still crying and her hands were still covering his face.

"D-don't worry about that," Lee said comfortingly, and said what Neji said to him, "The past is past. You're here with us now. You'll always be with us. You're back. That's all that matters."

Tenten felt something warm on her hands, and saw her hands leave her face. Neji slowly removed her hands from her face and held onto her hand with both his own. He smiled softly at her and nodded, agreeing with Lee. Suddenly, a smile appeared on her lips as more tears escaped her eyes. She was happy.

She was home.

Then silence came across them, making it awkward for all three of them. Tenten sighed and wiped away her tears with her free hand. She didn't let go of Neji's hand. She didn't want to.

"I-I guess you both want to k-know about w-what happened," she said quietly. Lee nodded.

"Who is Asuka?" Lee simply asked. Tenten looked down, shaking a bit, thinking of a way to put it. Her grip on Neji's hand began to tighten. She was feeling nervous. Then, taking one shaky sigh, she spoke, keeping her head down; wanting to avoid eye-contact with her teammates.

"My creation," Tenten finally said in almost a whisper.

Lee and Neji stared at her again in confusion.

"Creation?" Neji asked. All he received from her was a nod.

"What do you mean?" asked Lee, then sighed, realizing how nervous she was, "Tell us everything. Don't be afraid, Tenten. We won't get angered and we won't let anything happen to you."

Tenten calmed down a bit, and her grip on Neji's hand began to relax. She then spoke quietly, "I...I made her. She's my clone..."

"W-wait, start at the beginning," Lee interrupted, "What do you mean 'clone'? How was she created?"

"I tried that jutsu where a ninja could make clones out of themselves. Like N-Naruto. Then, I...I must've done something wrong. I only made one clone, and that clone wouldn't go away, no matter how many times I...I attacked it. Suddenly, she blocked my attack with her, or my, weapons. A-after that, she spoke to me. _Spoke_ to me. She told me to train her. And I did. That's w-when I decided to name her. I called her Asuka."

Lee found it a pretty odd, but believable story, "So that means, if you trained her, all her attacks are similar to yours, but less powerful, yes?"

Tenten nodded. Taking it that she did train Asuka, she had to be stronger than her own 'student'. Neji sighed and spoke, "That must be the reason why she looks so much like you. What else?"

Tenten let out a shaky sigh. "I've trained her for about 3 years. T-the more I trained her, the more I also taught myself. I found myself getting stronger. But the more stronger I got, the more stronger she got. I felt us become very close. That was when I told her all about me running away and..."

Unexpectedly, tears started to again escape from her eyes, hitting both her and Neji's hand. Neji looked at her, as did Lee, in concern. Lee reached over at touched her shoulder, knowing that she was having a hard to say whatever she wanted to say.

"Go ahead, Tenten. Tell us," he said in such a sweet voice she couldn't say no. She wiped her tears boyishly with her arm, and didn't remove her arms from her eyes when she began to talk.

"That's when I told her about revenge," she said in almost a whisper. Lee and Neji's hold on her started to loosen a bit in shock. _"So she did want revenge," _thought Lee sadly, still hoping that it wasn't true. Tenten was then hiccuping a bit due to her tears. She continued, "I-I won't lie to you. I-I did want revenge. B-but that was a mistake...I should have never desired such a thing. A-and Asuka hurt you. I'm so stupid...so stupid."

She began to cry once again. Lee and Neji were looking down at her bed feeling a bit odd. They expected to feel hurt, and indeed they did, but more, they felt that they were the stupid ones. It came to them that they were the reason that she ran away. They were the reason she disappeared for the past 4 long years. Lee sighed. Tenten flinched, thinking that they were going to get mad at her for sure. She paced herself. She then felt his hand touch her cold skin.

"Tenten, don't cry," Lee said, "Whatever the reason that made you want to get revenge on us, we're terribly sorry. I won't ask you now what the reason is, okay? Just give us information of where we can find Asuka. We already know were her underground base is. Is there a way that we could enter?"

Tenten paused for a moment as she slowly removed her arm from her eyes. Her eyes were slight red and wet. Trying to get her voice back, she sat up straight, hands again tightening around Neji's, "There's an entrance within the lake, which is...about...2 meters away from the base. Go in the lake and there's a hole to the left. It's big, you can't miss it."

Neji twitched. _"We have to swim," _he thought dully. With that, she took a final deep breath. Lee believed he got all that he needed to know. He looked up at the clock above Tenten's head. They still had a couple minutes left. Lee then looked over at Neji and grinned to himself. Neji looked back at Lee and before he could speak, Lee stood up and dusted himself off.

"Well, I got to go aware Gai-sensei about the misunderstandings," Lee said, "Neji, you stay here with Tenten for a while. Keep her company."

Lee then gave Neji a wink and walked out the door, closing the door quietly behind him. Once Lee left, the wind entered the room in a calm rhythm, making both their hair flow with it a bit. Tenten wanted to open her mouth to speak, but she felt like she couldn't. What was she to say? She looked down and blushed a bit, realizing that their hands were still together. She looked at Neji, who happened to be looking in her eyes. She felt her blush deepen. Shaking her head, she slowly pulled her hand back to her. But, once she moved her hand, Neji took a soft grip on her hand, stopping her from moving. Tenten stared at him, wondering why he won't let her let go. Neji sighed, _"It's now, or never." _

"Tenten," he started off slowly. She looked at him, and since she said nothing, he had to continue. He sighed again and his eyes didn't lose sight of hers. "I found myself falling in love with you."

Tenten stared at him with wide eyes. And what was more surprising, he was talking about it with a straight face. He smirked a bit and continued, remembering all that Sakura told him about the story, "But to tell you the truth, I found myself admiring you more than loving. You see, whenever I watched you train, whenever I watched you fight, the more I would admire you. You work hard. Very hard to get head among the rest."

Her face suddenly became really warm. She thanked the wind, for it now blew, covering a bit of her face with her hair. She then heard Neji chuckle softly as he brushed her hair away from her face lightly and lifted up her chin slowly with his thumb. Tenten's heart started to beat rapidly as he leaned in closer to her face, lips just inches apart. He stopped once their lips were just close enough to breath in each other's breath. Neji smiled.

"I love you for that," he finally whispered, before delicately capturing her lips with his.

Tenten's eyes shot wide open. _"How does he..._" she thought, but was then at a point where she couldn't think. The atmosphere around them began to grew thick and the wind started to blow more, making their long hairs flow within the rhythm. Everything was silenced. Within seconds, her eyes and body began to relax. Before she could even close her eyes, Neji slowly released, leaving her hungry for more. She was panting softly, with deep red tinted on her face. Neji blushed as well, not knowing whether or not he did the right thing.

She didn't speak. All that came out of her mouth were small breaths. Suddenly, a smile started to creep onto her lips. Happy tears whelmed up in her eyes as she mouthed something he didn't quite get. But right now that didn't seem to matter. Without hesitation, he wrapped his arms around her and held her close, softly rubbing his head against her hair, taking in her scent. He embraced her, not wanting to let her go. Tenten then wrapped her arms around him as well, obviously feeling the same way as she hugged him tightly. Hard to admit to himself, but he was happy. Very happy. Very happy that she was finally back with them, back with him. After 4 long years of searching, the moment has finally come. Tenten felt Neji smile as he whispered:

"Welcome back."

**TBC**

I don't know whether the next chapter is the last, but it's almost over. :) This chapter is rather...'out of it' (told by my critic) and I still need to improve with suspense. R&R Thanks for reading!


	6. Chapter 6

Finale! Yay.

**Stronger**

by iJutsu

**Chapter 6**

It was now morning. The sun shone brightly upon Konoha with it's gentle rays. Birds chirped and random bells chimed. The sun's rays seeped through the blinds of hospital window of Tenten's room, making her slowly wake up from her slumber. She opened her eyes and rubbed them slowly before sitting up. Tenten blinked. She didn't remember falling asleep. All she remembered last night was getting back with her teammates, and the kiss.

The kiss.

Tenten blushed deeply as she lightly touched her lips. It really did happen. Neji really did kiss her. After many years of her admiration and love towards him, he finally kissed her. A small smile formed on her thin lips when she put down her finger. She looked outside, and suddenly, her smile disappeared. _"Oh no," _she thought, _"Oh no, oh no. Did they already leave...?"_

"Good morning, our beautiful blooming flower of youth!" said a predictable voice.

Tenten swiftly turned around and her smile formed yet again. There stood Lee and Neji, with Lee holding a tray of food. Tenten sighed in relief, for they didn't leave yet for battle. She looked over at Neji, and smiled. He seemed to have catched her glance, for he looked at fully and smiled back. Neji smiling gave her a warm feeling, for it was kind of rare for him to do so. Tenten took a deep breath and stretched her arms. Then, she moved her legs where they hung from the sides of her bed. Lee blinked.

"What are you doing, Tenten?" he asked, as he placed the food on the small table next to him, "You shouldn't be moving..."

Tenten gave him the same look, "But we have to fight Asuka today, right?"

Neji and Lee's eyes widen a bit as Lee quickly walked over to Tenten. He put his hand on each of her shoulders. She looked up at him confusingly.

"W-w-whoa, hold on," Lee said, giving her a serious look, "You're not going anywhere! You're going to stay in this room and rest until Neji and I get back."

Tenten stared at them for a moment. She eyed at Neji, who surprisingly was agreeing with Lee. She glared at Lee and pouted. "W-why not?" she asked, "I thought..."

"Tenten, your hurt," Lee simply said, "You can't fight."

"I had enough rest!" she said stubbornly, "I could still fight. Watch!"

She then punched Lee in the stomach to prove herself, of course not meaning to hurt him. Although, she ended up hurting herself. She drew back her arm, held it with her free hand, and winched quietly. Lee sighed. Tenten sighed as well, facing the fact that they were right. She was in absolutely no condition to fight. Lee patted her shoulder lightly before standing up straight.

"See what I mean, Tenten?" he asked, face dropping a bit, "You'll easily get attacked and...and..."

"We can't lose you again," Neji continued simply, stepping up closer to her. She looked up at him and Lee, then looked down, face dropping as well. She really did want to help fight, but what kind of help would she be? Nothing. Lee sensed how she was feeling. He sat down next to her and wrapped his arm around her shoulder.

"Please understand. If you were in good condition, we'd be more than happy for you to come with us," Lee said, giving her a smile, "I promise you this, we will be back good and alive!"

Tenten flinched, at the word 'alive', thinking that it's a possibility that they could die. Neji sighed and whacked Lee's head with the back of his hand. Lee grunted and rubbed the back of head as he stood up. He then picked up the tray of food and placed it in front of Tenten. She looked up at him and back at the food. She really was to stay.

"Besides! You're a sensei now, Tenten. Your students are urging to meet you..."

Her eyes widened. "I'm a...what?"

"A sensei!" Lee repeated, happily. "You became a sensei about a couple months ago. And you have 3 lovely students by the names of Kai, Kimiko, and Ryo. They've been dying to meet their teacher."

She continued looking at Lee in surprise. Suddenly she smiled and looked down. She was happy, for she finally had her own team. Her own mini family that could grow happily as Team Gai did. After a few moments of staring at the food before her, she looked back up at her teammates. She gave them a small smile.

"Promise me you'll be careful," she whispered, "Take her down."

"Yosh!" Lee said, pinging a smile, "You could count on that! I am getting so worked up! Let us go now, Neji! The quicker we defeat her, the better!"

With that Rock Lee marched out of the room, and Neji followed.

"Neji," Tenten whispered, making him stop mid step and turn around to face her. She was clutching onto her blanket tightly, face again down, obviously not happy. Shaking slightly she spoke, "Is there really nothing I can..."

Neji sighed and walked up to her. He placed his thumb under her chin and lifted her face up slowly, like he did the night before. He looked into her eyes, then moved up slowly, merely giving her a soft short kiss on the forehead. Neji then stood up and patted her gently on the head.

"Just get some rest," he said soothingly, before leaving the room. Tenten stared at the door and empty hallway in awe, then back down at the floor pitifully.

There was no way she was staying.

--

Lee and Neji were finally out of the hospital. Neji looked over at Lee strangely, for he had been smiling at him ever since they left Tenten's room. He glared.

"What?"

"Nothing," Lee hummed.

Neji sighed. He didn't bother to go any further than that. Lee stretched, then thought about how the battle was going to be like with Asuka. Suddenly, he remembered he had to tell Neji about happened during their previous battle with her. As the walked out the exit, Lee stopped him. Neji looked at him questionably.

"Neji," Lee started, thinking that it was more reasonable to talk about the battle before they reach their destination, "Remember when I was able to attack Asuka when you stopped her from attacking Tenten? She was too distracted by you stopping her weapon, she didn't notice me. That's a weakness-she's easily distracted."

"And by that..."

"Yup. We can defeat her if we focus on her weak points. We both have to be distractions at certain times. You catch my drift, and I'll catch yours."

Neji nodded, understanding. "Plus," Neji said, "Asuka's moves are quite similar to Tenten's, meaning we're mainly against weapons."

"They don't call her the Weapon Mistress for nothing," Lee replied.

They continued their way deeper into the forest. They headed towards the underground base, though hoped that they didn't have to enter the base, for swimming underwater to enter seemed pretty obvious and could easily get trapped. Neji shivered at the thought. Asuka, after all, was the unpredictable one. How she's able to block their attacks is something they have to watch out for. It then got to him that if Asuka was able to block their attacks, so was Tenten. He smirked a bit and then looked at Lee, who was tightening up his protective tape. He was most likely also thinking about the upcoming battle. Lee then stopped for a moment and removed the weights in his leg warmers, leaving it behind as they continued walking. Neji looked back at it for a moment, then back forward. Lee was really going to get fierce in the battle. This time there's no holding back.

At this point the began to run. Finally getting themselves together the ran towards their destination as quick as possible. They then jumped onto a tree and hopped from a tree branch to another, finding it easier to see where the empty spot of dirt is. Finally spotting it from a distance, they hopped back down onto the floor. They were about 50 meters away now. Lee's heart beats seemed to have been increasing as they continued walking closer and closer. Neji was already pacing himself. Finally, ending the suspense, the reached the area. Slowly, the walked to the center of the circle and looked around. No one was around. Neji grunted, not wanting to take the lake route. Lee sighed, feeling the same way.

"Might as well continue on," Lee said, taking a step. Although, he was stopped once Neji placed his arm in front of him. Lee looked at Neji strangely, who was looking around frantically.

"What's wrong?" Lee asked.

For a moment, Neji stayed silent. That made Lee more worried. Neji closed his eyes for a fairly long time. Before Lee was able to get impatient, Neji opened his eyes and spoke.

"Jump," he whispered.

"P-pardon?" Lee said, quite not catching it.

"Jump!" Neji said sharply at Lee as he quickly jumped high. Lee blinked and felt the ground shake. Eyes growing wide, Lee jumped and landed on a branch next to the one Neji was standing upon. Lee caught his breath and looked down. He then gasped loudly when the ground that they were just on 'blew up', making rocks and dust head towards them. Lee and Neji placed their arms in front of themselves, blocking it, though with multiple pebbles hitting their heads. The dust cleared out bit by bit, making it clearer every second. Both ninjas looked down the same time they placed their arms back to their sides. Lee growled.

There she was.

Asuka was standing in front of the giant hole that was caused by the explosion. Her arms were crossed and a smirk was planted on her lips once she looked up at them. Neji was confused, but a bit amazed about what had caused that big of an explosion. The hole was pretty huge. Lee grunted and they both jumped down, landing perfectly in front of her. She shook her head, laughing.

"I told you it wasn't over," she said, still grinning evilly.

"It's about to me," Lee muttered, glaring at the girl, and then raising his voice, "You're going to regret all that you did to ruin Tenten's and our lives! Without Tenten, you're nothin-"

"Nothing?" she giggled, "Ho, ho I beg your pardon. She's the one that is 'nothing' without me."

"She created you," Lee snarled, full of words, "You're nothing but a fake!"

Neji began to worry. Lee was already losing his temper, and they didn't begin fighting yet. He might forget about strategy and fight effortless. And making just one mistake may ruin everything for them. Asuka just continued laughing, like the whole thing was a joke. That made Lee more angry. Not being able to help himself, he grabbed Asuka by her collar and lifted her up surprisingly easy. He looked deep in her eyes that shown hunger for kill. She grinned down at him, even though he was nearly to choking her. Lee let out a breath and gave her the same grin as he threw he down, making her almost land on her behind. She slowly removed her katana from her back case, with her eyes still fixed on Lee. In an instant, she stabbed Lee in the stomach and quickly drew her blade back to her. Lee numbly fell down to his knees, with his head down. Asuka's smile grew and she stood back up straightly.

"That was too easy," she said, moving a strand of hair away from her face. Suddenly, Lee lifted up his head slowly and smirked towards her, making Asuka's smile fade away.

"Pitiful," he whispered, before turning into wood. A substitution! Asuka gasped and looked around. She then turned around, only get the kicked on the side of the head by no other than Rock Lee. She flew back, and hit her back against the tree. But the moment she did, she turned into wood as well. Lee grunted, finding himself stupid for thinking that this battle may be easy. All of sudden, Lee felt the swift motion of Asuka come from behind him. Knowing that she was going to attack, Lee ducked making her target now towards Neji. Neji just stood there smirking. She lifted up her katana and aimed it towards him. Neji, in less than a second, dodged and attacked her from behind with a kick to the side. Asuka coughed as she fell hard onto the floor, and rolled multiple times, not being able to control that. After skidding across the floor, she, as fast as she could, stood up. Neji and Lee backed up and stood next to one another, staring at the Tenten replica. What she did almost drove them made.

She was chuckling, with that mischievous grin on her face. She wiped the trail of blood from her lip with her hand slowly, eyes still not leaving the two. The grin was surely getting on their nerves. With her katana still in her hands, she jumped up and disappeared into the sky. Neji and Lee jerked back, looking up at the sky.

"Where is she?" asked Lee, still looking at the sky and seeing nothing. Neji looked around then pointed.

"There!"

Lee looked up to the direction Neji instructed and gasped. Asuka was headed down with her katana's blade towards the floor, or rather, towards Neji. She was too close to them for them to escape the attack. Not having enough time to use a strategy for this, Neji held his kunai with both hands before him, blocking Asuka's attack. Sparks flew once she hit the kunai, seeming to have made one of the weapons weaker. It was the kunai. Asuka grinned and attacked the kunai once more, causing it to break in pieces. Neji didn't have enough time to take out another weapon, for Asuka again attacked towards him. She attacked, only to find that she attacked thin air. Her eyes widened and she spun around with her katana, to slice those behind her. She striked Neji, and later finding out that it was again a substitution.

Asuka cursed under her breath and looked around for the Hyuuga. She let out a breath once she saw him standing on a branch before her. His arms were crossed and his was looking down at her with the same smirk she gives them. She glared and jumped back up, with her blade towards him. She got closer and he was still grinning.

"I'm going to slice that grin off your face!" yelled Asuka angrily as she lifted up her kunai to do a direct hit on his head.

"Leaf Great Whirlwind!"

Asuka gasped hearing the voice of the Konoha's green beast from behind. Neji's smirk grew as Lee spun around kicking her on the side with both legs. She ducked, but that didn't stop him. Lee yelled and kicked towards her lower legs, causing her to fall back onto the ground towards the giant hole. She almost made it in, to their disappointment. Her head hung from the edge of the hole, knowing that if she didn't move, she'll indeed fall. Kicking her legs up, she shakily stood up. There was now a deep bruise on her leg. Neji nodded at Lee. Distracting her with one person was working so far. Lee panted deeply. _"Hope she doesn't realize what we're doing..." _Lee thought, taking in a final breath before getting back into battle stance. She just stood there, looking at them deeply with her right leg shaking a bit. Neji hopped down the branch and stood on the ground with Lee. She flared.

"Guess I have to try harder than I expected," she whispered, placing back her katana into her back case. The two boys gulped. Taking a deep breath, stood up as straight as she could and pulled out a scroll. She jumped up once again, though not as high as before. Finally accessing chakra into it, she flipped in the air and faced the unrolled up scroll before the two, making various kunais and shurikens go towards them. Neji's eyes flashed.

"Eight Trigrams Palm Heavenly Spin!" he yelled, causing all the weapons bounce off the chakra shield that was created to protect him and Lee. Asuka grunted, then pulled up the weapons that were blocked with invisible strings that hung from her fingers. Lee jerked backwards. _"That's what Tenten did when she fought with the sand kunoichi during the Chunin exams..." _Lee thought, shielding himself with his arms. Neji seemed to notice, and since he already knew the attack, he could find a way to again block the weapons. Neji then looked at Lee, mouthing a word that Lee seemed to got. Lee nodded and they faced Asuka. She pulled them fully up and again threw them towards Team Gai. They didn't move. The weapons hit them perfectly. Her face beamed happily.

After a few seconds, the attacked Neji and Lee turned into smoke. The smile on her face faded. _"They were clones!"_ she thought furiously. She landed on the floor standing up, almost falling due to her leg. Panting, she looked around. There was no sight of them. No one above. No one to the left. No one to the right. She gasped. That means they must be...!

Below.

Before she could do anything else, Lee popped out from underground and punched her on the chin, imitating the move Naruto did on Neji on the Chunin exams. She flew up towards the sky, coughing out blood that rained on Lee's arms when he stood on the ground watching her. She flipped backwards in the air, making her land on the ground a couple feet away from Lee on her feet. Although, she only stood for a couple seconds. She fell down on her knees, though with one knee up to help her again stand. She glared at Lee, who just continued staring at her with determination of victory. She hated that. Shakily, she stood up and walked towards him.

"Now, Neji!" Lee said, not leaving sight of her. She stopped in her tracks and her eyes widened. She completely forgot about the Hyuuga. Not even being able to blink, Neji was suddenly in front of her, with the same look Lee had in his eyes. He then closed his eyes and opened them, revealing no other than the Byakugan. He knew exactly where her chakra points were. Without hesitation, Neji attacked.

"Eight Trigrams, two palms!"

Neji attacked, striking two of her chakra points. It continued as it increased in speed and numbers.

"Four Palms!"

"Eight Palms!"

"Sixteen Palms!"

"Thirty-two Palms!"

"Eight Trigrams, Sixty-four Palms!"

Neji has now closed sixty-four of her chakra points. Asuka began coughing dryly out blood and stumbled backwards. Trying to keep her balance, she pulled out her kunais, again with five in each hand. Amazed that she was still standing, they had to continue on. Neji's eyes flashed.

"Lee!" he started.

"Got it!" Lee grinned, running towards her in such speed that was hardly seen with the human eye, "First gate, open!"

Tremendous amount of chakra came across his body as he got close to Asuka like he wanted. He skidded towards her and before she was able to look down and attack, he kicked her high into the air. She was lying in air, giving Lee the perfect chance. Lee jumped and appeared behind his oppenent and smirked.

"Got you," he whispered, wrapping her up with his arm bandages before he grabbed hold of her. With arms and bandages around Asuka, he spun around towards the ground dangerously.

"Front Lotus!" he yelled, when he drove her into the ground hard. Letting go, he jumped backwards towards Neji, leaving her within the dust clouds caused by the attack. Lee panted heavily and fell down on his behind, sitting on the ground. Neji also couldn't help but sit down on his knees, for he used one of his most powerful moves. They both grunted. They were both numb and tired. If that didn't destroy her, they don't know what will. The dust began to fade away by the wind, giving them a clearer image of what happened to their opponent. Lee gasped.

She was standing.

Blood traveled from her forehead to her neck, which then traveled down her arm. Scratches and bruises were easily seen on her legs and arms and parts of her clothing was shredded or torn. She was shakily terribly and panting heavily. Neji flared, _"How is she able to be standing after all that?" _Her eyes slowly shifted at them, eyes filled with hate. Keeping her eyes on them, she slowly started limping towards them. They flinched and tried to move but the couldn't. Their bodies were holding them down. As she walked towards them, she pulled out both her katanas, holding one in each hand. One almost slipped out her head, due to the numbness and pain in her body. Finally, she stood before them, trying to keep her balance. Shaking, she put the katana's blade up to Neji's neck and the other up to Lee's neck. They let out a breath. They didn't have enough chakra to move fast enough to stop her attack. She looked down at them in fierce.

"N-now," she panted, "N-now I understand why she wanted r-revenge. You guys r-really are...strong."

Neji glared. _"Is that the reason..." _he thought doubtfully. Lee seemed to agree with Neji's thoughts, for his eyes shown disbelief. She chuckled quietly and pulled the katana from their necks and held them above their heads. She was going to kill them no matter what it takes. And now, they had no way to escape. They closed their eyes. It was over.

"Die!" she yelled and aimed a hit towards their heads.

Suddenly the sound of metal against metal made them open their eyes wide in shock. Both of Asuka's katanas flew out of her hands and towards the left of her. Asuka gasped.

"What the...?!"

She turned to her side where her weapons were thrown, revealing a girl wearing a Chinese themed kunoichi outfit holding onto a kunai with her long brown hair covering her face from the wind. Her eyes shot up wide. Neji's and Lee's eyes did the same as a grin formed on their faces.

"Tenten," Lee whispered.

Tenten just smiled and grabbed hold of one of her kunais. That was all she needed. She walked towards Asuka, causing Asuka to step back every time she took a step forward. She growled and as fast as she could, which was pretty slow due to her pain, grabbed shurikens from her pocket bag and threw them at her. Tenten continued walking towards her, moving her head and body to block the weapons like it was nothing. Her eyes didn't escape hers. Asuka cursed and coughed and reached into her pocket bag. She gasped, feeling that it was empty. She was now defenseless against Tenten. Tenten was now very close to her. Asuka turned around and moved her foot to run.

Too late.

Tenten got her before she was able to take one step further. Lee gasped. Tenten has stabbed Asuka from her back, with the blade cutting right through her heart and body. Asuka was now in the center of her own katana. Red streamed out of her body and out her closed mouth. Tenten let go of the weapon and she fell unconsciously on the ground. Tenten looked at the lifeless body before her, then at her blood stained hands.

She had killed someone.

Neji and Lee remained quiet, with their shock expressions still planted on their faces. They didn't know what to say. All of a sudden, Asuka's body poofed into viewable smoke, making Asuka and her blood on the ground disappear once the smoke faded away. Lee blinked.

That was the same way clones disappear when destroyed.

After minutes of staring at nothing but dirt before her, she wiped her hands on her pants and turned around. Lee and Neji were still sitting down, staring at her in awe. She walked towards them and let out both her hands. She managed a smile.

"Let's go home," she whispered.

--

"Say," Lee started, walking with his teammates, "Why do you think she disappeared like that?"

"She's a clone," Neji said simply, hands in pockets, "She's not real."

"Then why whenever we hit her before, she would still be...alive? Usually clones would disappear if we strike them once."

"She has a heart," Tenten whispered, who was walking a couple inches behind them. Neji and Lee stopped and looked at her questionably. Tenten looked up at them and sighed, "Something went wrong when I created her. She was almost human. And I killed her..."

Her eyes started to water a bit and Neji sighed. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders, pulling her close. Lee smiled softly and nodded.

"It's not like you killed someone innocent, Tenten," he said comfortingly, "If it wasn't for you, Neji and I would be dead gone by now."

Tenten couldn't help but give in a small smile.

"You've gotten stronger as well, Tenten," Neji added, "In so many ways."

Tenten's smile grew and her face grew warm and red. Lee noticed and smirked, "You've also become more beautiful and you're loved very much by Mr. Prodigy. Right, Neji?"

Neji let out a chuckled sigh, going along with Lee, as he lightly kissed her on the head, "Yes. Very."

Tenten couldn't take it anymore. She covered her face with both her hands, not wanting to show her huge smile that they made her do. She started giggling, and she removed her hands from her face. She covered her mouth as she giggled and her eyes shined with happiness.

"S-stop!" she said with a smile, trying to catch her breath, "You're embarrassing me. Okay, I've gotten stronger. I'm back with my team. I'm loved. And honestly, I couldn't ask for anything else. Happy?"

Lee laughed and stretched, "You're forgetting one thing. You're back with us-your teammates. Team Gai forever, right?"

She slowly removed her hand from her mouth and stared at Lee in astonishment. She then looked at Neji, who smiled and nodded at her. Her eyes glittered with tears as she smiled that smile. The smile they missed the most.

"Right."

**FIN**

BLECH. You could tell that the ending was rushed. And I could tell that this wasn't one of my best fan fictions, but please look forward to my future writing! I think I'll set aside action and adventure for a while xD. Thanks for reading ! Please R&R! (:


End file.
